TJ 


IC-N 


GIFT   OF 


r  'U 


Henry  Disston^  Sons 

Incorporated 

Keystone.  SawlooLSted 'and 'File  Works 
PHILADELPHIA 


THE  FILE 

Its 
History,  Making,  and  Uses 


A  description  of  the  develop- 
ment of  the  file  from  the  earliest 
times  to  the  present  day;  a  brief 
statement  of  the  modern  method 
of  file  making;  a  description  of 
the  great  variety  of  files  and  the 
numerous  uses  to  which  the  tool 
is  adapted. 


It  is  hoped  that  those  who 
read  this  description  of  the  de- 
velopment and  uses  -  of  the  file 
will  come  to  appreciate  better 
the  importance  of  the  tool  and 
to  value  it  more  highly. 

COPYRIGHTED 

FIRST     EDITION,    DECEMBER,     1920 

SECOND  EDITION,  NOVEMBER,  1921 

BY 

HENRY  DISSTON  &  SONS  INC. 

Keystone  Saw,  Tool,  Steel,  and  File  Works 
PHILADELPHIA,  U.  S.  A. 


HENRY    DISSTON 


"H 


E  created  a  new  American 
industry.  He  gave  to  the 
United  States  the  greatest  saw 
works  in  the  world,  and  thus  founded 
an  industrial  university  wherein  a 
dozen  useful  trades  are  taught.  Not 
only  did  he  redeem  us  from  all  de- 
pendence on  foreign  countries,  but 
turned  back  the  tide  and  made  them 
accept  his  products,  and  this  simply 
by  peaceful  demonstration  of  superior 
skill  in  manufacturing." 


FOREWORD 

There  are  few  tools  more  essential 
in  the  development  of  industry  than 
the  file.  Perhaps  for  the  very  reason 
that  it  is  so  universally  used  and  so 
absolutely  indispensable,  the  file  does 
not  commonly  receive  the  attention  it 
deserves,  as  a  tool,  from  craftsmen 
and  students. 

This  book  is  dedicated  to  those 
innumerable  men  to  whom  the  file  is 
an  everyday  friend  and  a  necessity — 
the  tool  which  enables  them  to  dp 
more  and  better  work  with  less  labor. 

There  has  been  no  guide  for  the 
compilation  of  the  material  in  this 
book.  Information  has  been  obtained 
from  every  available  source.  It  is 
possible,  therefore,  that  the  wide 
circulation  of  the  book  will  bring  to 
light  some  omissions,  which,  we  hope, 
will  be  passed  with  tolerance  in  view 
of  the  difficulties  attending  the  com- 
pilation of  the  facts. 


5078IG 


STONES  USED  BY  ANCIENT  PUEBLO  INDIANS  FOR 
POLISHING  AND  STRAIGHTENING  ARROW  SHAFTS 


(See  Page  6) 


THE  FILE 

ITS   HISTORY,    MAKING, 
AND  USES 


ALTHOUGH  the  history  of 
the  file  can  be  traced  back 
into  the  remote  past,  its  age 
is  by  no  means  as  great  as 
the  saw.  Scientists  believe,  in  fact, 
that  the  artificial  file  was  a  natural 
development  from  the  saw,  the 
notched  edges  of  stone  and  metal 
implements  leading  to  the  invention 
of  a  tool  having  teeth  for  abrasive 
purposes. 

Abrading  instruments,  while  dat- 
ing from  many  centuries  before 
Christ  were  at  first  composed  of 
some  natural  substance  which 
might  be  said  to  have  ground  off 
the  surface  rather  than  to  have  cut 
it,  as  do  the  files  arid  rasps  of  today. 

As  in  many  other  things,  Nature 
herself  has  taken  precedence  over 
man  in  the  origination  of  files.. 
There  is  a  type  of  mollusc  having  ai 
rough  tongue  with  which  it  rubs  or 
files  through  the  shells  of  othei 
molluscs  on  which  it  feeds.  The 
wasp,  also,  has  a  rasp-like  organ 
with  which  it  abrades  dry  wood, 
afterwards  mixing  the  dust  with  a 
glutinous  saliva  to  form  the  paper 
from  which  it  builds  its  nest.  The 
cat's  tongue,  and  that  of  the  cow, 
are  familiar  examples  of  abrading 
organs  in  the  animal  kingdom. 

Prehistoric  man  made  handles  for 
his  weapons  by  sawing  or  splitting 
wood,  rough-shaping  the  pieces  as 
well  as  he  could  by  primitive  meth- 
ods, and  finally  finishing  and  pol- 
ishing them  by  means  of  the  partic- 
ular abrasive  material  found  in  his 
vicinity.  A  remarkable  connection 
between  these  ancient  times  and 
the  most  modern,  is  found  in  the 
present-day  use  of  sandpaper  and 
emery  cloth.  These  are  only  a  mod- 
ified form  of  the  first  stone  abrading 


instruments  used  by  primitive  man, 
proving  that  many  of  our  primor- 
dial instincts  are  still  existent. 
There  are  few  of  us,  in  fact,  who 
have  not,  at  some  time  in  our  lives, 
scraped  up  sand  with  a  shell,  or 
used  a  stone  to  drive  a  nail — both 
survivals  of  the  Stone  Age,  and 
illustrating  man's  intuitive  employ- 
ment of  the  things  Nature  placed 
ready  to  his  hand. 

To  abrade,  or  file,  ancient  man 
used  sand,  grit,  coral,  bone,  fish 
skin,  and  gritty  woods, — also  stone 
of  varying  hardness  in  connection 
with  sand  and  water. 

Crude  as  were  these  abrading  in- 
struments, and  slow  and  laborious 
as  must  have  been  their  use,  they 
nevertheless  served  primeval  man 
well  throughout  the  Stone  and 
Bronze  Ages.  Up  to  the  time  of 
the  discovery  of  iron,  natural  abra- 
sives were  used  extensively.  Cop- 
per, and  later,  bronze,  did  not  per- 
mit of  sufficient  hardening  to  be 
used  as  a  material  for  the  making 
of  artificial  files,  although  attempts 
were  made  to  use  both  for  that  pur- 
pose. 

M.  Adrien  de  Mortillet,  in  his 
classification  of  prehistoric  tools, 
gives  first  place  to  cutting  tools, 
and  second  to  rasping  tools,  which, 
of  course,  include  the  file  and  rasp, 
thus  showing  the  importance  of  the 
file  since  earliest  times.  And  yet, 
with  its  important  standing,  there  is 
a  remarkable  scarcity  of  both  his- 
tory and  relics  as  compared  with 
other  examples  of  the  handiwork 
of  man. 

Strange  as  it  may  seem,  the 
North  American  continent  has 
yielded  more  examples  of  the  na- 
tural files  of  the  ancients  than  any 


The  Ffile  }In^^toi^\  \  \ ...: 


other  part  of  the  globe.  Among 
the  Mound  Builders  and  Cliff  Dwell- 
ers of  America,  those  ancient  and 
prehistoric  peoples  of  whose  com- 
ing and  going  so  little  is  known, 
stones  were  used  for  abrading  pur- 
poses. Although  both  races  left 
traces  of  their  familiarity  with  cer- 
tain kinds  .of  metal,  from  which 
they  made  tools,  ornaments;  and 
other  articles,  neither  race,  appar- 
ently, was  acquainted  with  the  artifi- 
cial file.  Nothing  of  the  kind  has 
ever  been  found,  so  far  as  is  known, 
but  several  examples  of  the  stone- 
file  have  been  unearthed. 

Fig.  1  shows  one  of  these  stones 
which  was  found  in  a  Mound  Build- 
ers' cemetery  in  Tennessee.  From 
the  peculiar  grooves  in  this  stone 
it  would  appear  that  it  had  been 
used  for  smoothing  arrow  shafts. 

Early  Indians 

Used  Abrasive  Tools 

The  ancient  Pueblo  Indians,  who 
inhabited  the  Calisteo  Basin  in 
Western  North  America,  left, 
among  many  other  crude  tools  and 
pieces  of  pottery,  specimens  of 
stone  which  archaeologists  say  were 
also  used  to  smooth  and  polish 
arrow  shafts.  Some  of  these  are 
preserved  in  the  American  Museum 
of  Natural  History  in  New  York. 
Three  good  examples  of  these 
stones  are  shown  in  Fig.  2  (frontis- 
piece). The  material  appears  to  be 
soft  sandstone,  of  varying  grades 
of  fineness,  in  which  deep  grooves 
have  been  worn  by  drawing  them 
along  the  wooden  shafts.  As  proof 
of  this  use,  it  may  be  said  that 
Eskimos  of  the  Arctic  regions 
today  use  stones  to  smooth  and 
sharpen  their  spear-heads.  Captain 
George  Comer  while  on  an  expedi- 
tion in  the  far  north  secured  a  speci- 
men of  stone,  pictured  in  Fig.  3, 
which  was  used  like  a  file  by  the 
natives.  It  measures  about  eight 


inches  in  length,  one  and  a  half 
inches  in  width,  and  three-quarters 
of  an  inch  in  thickness. 

It  is  discoveries  such  as  this  that 
have  greatly  aided  scientists  in  un- 
raveling the  tool  mysteries  of  the 
earth's  early  inhabitants.  In  fact, 
study  of  the  customs  and  tools 
of  the  savages  of  today  give  a  very 
clear  idea  of  the  tools  used,  and 
the  manner  of  making  those  tools, 
in  prehistoric  times.  The  South 
Sea  Islanders,  for  instance,  aptly 
illustrate  this, — for,  in  these  days 
of  wonderful  tool  development, 
they  are  still  using  pieces  of  coral 
as  rasps. 

The  remarkable  resemblance 
between  the  tools  used  in  bygone 
ages  in  different  parts  of  the  earth, 
and  by  dissimilar  peoples,  occa- 
sioned much  comment  in  the  past, 
but  the  modern  scientist  has  real- 
ized that,  as  Major  Powell,  the 
great  ethnologist,  once  said:  "The 
mind  of  man  is  everywhere  the 
same;  the  difference  of  its  products 
are  evidences  of  differences  of 
growth,  or  different  conditions  of 
environment."  In  other  words, 
man's  progress  has  depended  solely 
upon  his  needs  and  what  was  at 
hand  to  progress  with.  His  inven- 
tive tendencies,  once  aroused,  de- 
veloped along  parallel  lines — limited 
only  by  the  material  and  facilities 
for  carrying  them  out.  Implements 
are  more  or  less  alike  because  man's 


Pig.    1. — Filing    stone    from    the    Mound 
Builders'  Ruins  in  Tennessee. 


[6] 


$tie',  F$e>  fn  History 


needs  are  alike.  This  in  itself  would 
cause  a  similarity  of  tools  the  world 
over. 

In  spite  of  a  civilization  claimed 
to  antedate  that  of  the  East,  the 
development  on  the  Western  Hem- 
isphere in  ancient  times  did  not 


used,  many  still  clung  to  their  stone 
tools.  This  is  believed  to  have  been 
especially  so  with  the  poorer  classes 
who  could  not  afford  the  more 
costly  metal  implements.  Indeed, 
it  is  well  known  that  in  the  mines 
of  Spain  and  Sardinia  stone  ham- 


Fig.  3. — Stone  used  as  a  file  by  the  Nectchillic  Eskimos 


seem  to  go  beyond  a  certain  point. 
So,  while  we  find  the  earliest  speci- 
mens of  the  file  on  the  American 
continent,  we  must  turn  to  the 
Eastern  countries  for  the  beginning 
of  what  we  have  termed  the  artifi- 
cial file. 

Evolution 
Of  The  Ages 

The  Stone  Age,  with  its  natural 
files,  slowly  gave  way  to  the  Age  of 
Copper,  and  this  in  turn  to  the 
Bronze  Age.  Tools,  weapons,  and 
other  articles  found  a  wider  devel- 
opment with  the  coming  of  these 
metals,  but,  as  stated  before,  the 
file  is  a  tool  of  exceedingly  rare 
occurrence  in  copper  or  bronze, 
though  not  absolutely  unknown  in 
deposits  belonging  to  the  close  of 
the  Bronze  Age.  It  is  sometimes 
difficult  to  place  the  dates  or  ages 
of  many  stone  and  metal  imple- 
ments found  among  the  ancient  re- 
mains, for  Europe  remained  far 
behind  Asia  in  this  particular  for 
many  years.  In  2500  B.  C.,  while 
all  Asia  shared  in  the  knowledge  of 
Bronze,  Europe  was  still  in  the 
Stone  Age.  Then,  too,  long  after 
metal  was  fairly  well  known  and 


mers  were  in  use  during  historic 
times. 

Of  prehistoric  files  recovered,  the 
greater  number  have  been  of  bronze 
from  the  "hoards"  of  that  period. 
A  "hoard"  is  a  deposit  or  collection 
of  bronze  objects.  Investigators 
have  found  them  in  many  places 
all  over  Europe — several  ancient 
cemeteries  appearing  to  have  been 
favorite  hiding  places. 

The  theory  of  these  "hoards"  is 
that  they  were  used  as  storage 
places,  and  were  sometimes  the 
property  of  individuals,  sometimes 
of  traders,  and  sometimes  of  bronze 
founders.  The  latter  surmise  is  de- 
rived from  the  fact  that  many  of 
the  "hoards"  contained  broken  and 
worn  tools,  lumps  of  metal,  and 
moulds  for  casting,  as  well  as  num- 
erous perfect  tools. 

In  a  prehistoric  cemetery  at  Hall- 
statt,  in  upper  Austria,  an  imple- 
ment of  a  very  hard  grayish  alloy 
was  found.  This  was  believed  to 
have  been  an  anvil,  and  with  it  was 
found  a  bronze  file.  In  fact,  several 
files  of  bronze,  and  one  of  iron, 
have  been  found  in  this  same  ceme- 
tery. The  bronze  files  are  from  five 
to  ten  inches  long.  A  few  of  these, 
while  flat  for  the  greater  part  of 


[7] 


The  Ftie  In  $ia(6r^\  \  i  ^ 


their  length,  are  drawn  down  •  for 
about  two  inches  at  the  end  into 
tapering  round  files.  In  a  "hoard" 
found  in  Bologna  were  several  frag- 
ments of  files,  including  one  of  a 
half-round  file. 

Sir  William  Wilde  states  that  he 
found  among  a  collection  of  bronze 
tools  in  the  Museum  of  the  Royal 
Irish  Academy,  a  "bronze  circular 
file,  straight,  like  a  modelling  tool." 

The  early  form  of  file  is  much 
the  same  as  that  of  a  very  broad 
saw,  the  toothing  coarse,  and  run- 


Fig.  4. — File  from  the  prehistoric  lake- 
dw.ellings  of  Switzerland. 

ning  at  right  angles  across  the 
blade.  A  very  good  illustration  of 
this  is  the  iron  file  found  in  the  re- 
mains of  prehistoric  Lake-Dwell- 
ings in  Switzerland.  Fig.  4,  giving 
an  outline  of  this  file,  is  taken  from 
Munro's  "Lake-Dwellings  of  Eu- 
rope.'' Note  the  well-defined  tang. 
With  the  ancients,  Crete  was 
famed  for  the  skill  of  its  people  in 
working  metal.  It  had  become  a 
well-known  art  there  before  the 
people  of  the  North  knew  anything 
of  metal.  Among  the  earliest 
known  examples  of  the  artificially 
made  abrading  instruments  of 
metal,  for  which  a  date  can  be 
fixed,  is  a  bronze  file  (see  Fig.  5) 
which  was  dug  up  in  Crete  by  an 
expedition  from  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania,  and  is  now  in  the 
Museum  at  Candia.  This  file  has 
a  rounded  back  and  a  flat  surface 
for  rubbing.  The  astonishing  like- 
ness to  the  half-round  file  of  today 
will  be  noticed  at  once.  It  is  be- 
lieved to  have  been  made  about 
1500  B.  C.  Its  length  is  3^  inches, 
width  y%  of  an  inch,  and  thickness 
1A  of  an  inch. 


Fig.     5. — Ancient    bronze    file    from 
Crete. 

Rasps  Used 
1200  Years  B.  C. 

The  Egyptians  of  the  Lisht 
Dynasty,  about  1200  to  1000  B.  C., 
made  small  rasps  of  bronze,  as  sev- 
eral specimens  have  been  found 
which  could  be  more  or  less  ac- 
curately connected  with  that  time. 
These  rasps  are  shown  in  Fig.  6. 
They  are  1^  to  2*4  inches  in 
length,  and  appear  to  have  been 
made  from  sheet  bronze.  Holes 
were  punched  through  the  metal 
with  a  sharp-pointed  instrument.  It 
was  then  coiled  into  the  form  of  a 
cone-shaped  cylinder  with  the 
rough  edges  or  projections  of  the 
holes  on  the  outside.  These  acted 
as  the  teeth.  It  is  uncertain  what 
these  crude  rasps  were  used  for. 
The  softness  of  the  material  must 
have  made  their  use  extremely  lim- 
ited. Some  suggestion,  however, 
may  be  obtained  from  another  rasp 


Fig.    6. — Bronze  rasps   used   by   the 
Egyptians  1200-1000  B.  C. 


[8] 


The  Fifo  'In*  History 


of  a  somewhat  similar  nature  which 
was  found  in  the  Rammesseum  in 
Egypt.  This  little  rasp,  about  two 
inches  long,  and  a  half  inch  thick 
at  the  base,  is  made  out  of  sheet 
copper  with  holes  punched  as  pre- 
viously described.  In  fact,  refer- 
ence to  Fig.  7  will  show  that  these 
rasps,  found  at  different  times  and 
places,  are  very  much  alike.  As 


is  found  in  I  Samuel:  xm:  21,  which 
is  supposed  to  relate  to  about  the 
year  1093  B.  C.  This  reads: 

"They  had  a  file  for  the  mattocks, 
and  for  the  colters,  and  for  the 
forks,  and  for  the  axes,  and  to 
sharpen  the  goads." 

The  word  "file"  here  is  the  in- 
correct rendering  of  "petsirah  pirn," 
which  means  notching  of  the  mouth 


Fig.  7. — Copper  rasp  found  in  the  Rammesseum, 
Egypt. 


the  Egyptians  in  the  Rammesseum 
used  to  work  in  gold  it  may  safely 
be  surmised  that  this  little  rasp  was 
probably  used  in  a  manner  similar 
to  the  jewelers'  rasp  of  today.  The 
rasp  shown  in  Fig.  7  is  now  in  the 
Museum  of  the  University  of  Penn- 
sylvania. 

These  rasps  may  have  had  a 
wooden  handle  inserted  in  them. 
While  no  trace  of  such  handles  was 
found,  -this  supposition  arises  from 
the  curious  resemblance  between 
these  rasps  and  those  made  by  the 
American  Indian  of  more  or  less 
modern  times  which  will  be  de- 
scribed later.  As  the  Bronze  Age 
is  believed  to  have  been  at  its 
height  about  4000  years  before  the 
Christian  Era,  we  may  safely  as- 
sume that  bronze  files  were  in  use 
long  before  these  specimens  just 
described. 

That  there  were  iron  files  in  Solo- 
mon's time  may  be  inferred  from 
his  statement:  "Iron  sharpeneth 
iron;  so  a  man  sharpeneth  the 
countenance  of  his  friend,"  but  the 
first  historical  mention  of  artificial 
files  that  can  be  definitely  identified 
as  referring  to  such  implements  as 
are  now  understood  by  this  term 


or  edge  of  tools,  i.  e.,  to  remove  the 
bluntness  or  dullness  (and  so 
sharpen  the  edge)  of  these  agricul- 
tural implements  by  abrasion  in 
consequence  of  the  lack  of  smiths 
to  sharpen  them  by  forging  out  the 
points. 

Files  are  also  mentioned  in 
Homer's  Odyssey.  They  were 
doubtless  very  crude  in  form  and 
inefficient  in  operation  as  compared 
to  present-day  files,  but  the  fact 
that  they  were  mentioned  in  these 
early  writings  is  proof  that  they 
were  held  in  high  esteem  by  work- 
men of  ancient  times. 

As  both  of  these  citations  refer 
distinctly  to  the  use  of  files  in  metal 
working,  it  is  quite  apparent  that 
the  ancients  knew  how  to  make  use 
of  these  tools  for  much  the  same 
purposes  as  they  are  most  fre- 
quently employed  today,  viz,,  the 
fitting  and  finishing  of  metal  work. 
Wood  finishing,  as  practiced  by 
prehistoric  man,  and  his  immediate 
successors,  was  easily  accomplished 
by  the  use  of  natural  abrasives,  but 
cutting  implements  with  sharp 
teeth  were  required  when  tools  and 
weapons  came  to  be  constructed  of 
iron. 


[9] 


The  F$ 


Evidence  Of  Iron 
In  The  Early  Ages 

The  date  at  which  iron  first 
became  known  to  the  early  races 
of  man  is  still  a  matter  of  dispute. 
A  Chinese,  Fuh-he,  records  in  that 
extraordinarily  ancient  volume,  the 
"Book  of  Historical  Documents," 
that  he  accidently  smelted  iron 
when  clearing  forests  about  3200 
B.  C.  The  blue  color  used  in  de- 
picting knife  blades  in  drawings  on 
the  tombs  at  Thebes,  Egypt,  would 
seem  to  indicate  that  it  was  known 
among  the  Egyptians  as  early  as 
1565  B.  C.  Remarkably  fine  speci- 
mens of  early  iron  work,  however, 


Fig.   8. — Assyrian  file,  made  in  the 
7th  Century,  B.  C. 

have  been  taken  from  the  ruins  of 
Memphis  and  Thebes.  As  'these 
cities  are  so  old  that  their  origin  is 
lost  in  the  remote  past,  the  knowl- 
edge and  use  of  iron  might  even 
have  existed  at  a  much  earlier 
period.  The  Greeks  are  supposed 
to  have  known  iron  before  the 
foundation  of  Troy  in  1537  B.  C. 
Their  poetry,  fables,  and  mythol- 
ogy contain  many  references  to 
iron.  Homer  tells  us  that  at  the 
siege  of  Troy  the  leaders  and  great 
heroes  carried  swords  of  bronze, 
while  the  common  soldiers  were 
armed  with  iron  weapons.  In  spite 
of  the  fact  that  the  Greeks  are  sup- 
posed to  have  known  and  worked 
in  iron  before  the  foundation  of 
Troy,  Dr.  Schliemann,  in  his  book 
"Illios,"  claims  that  files  were  not 
used  in  the  cities  of  Troy  and  My- 
cenae. During  all  his  explorations 
he  found  absolutely  no  trace  of 
them  at  these  places.  We  read  that 
David,  about  a  thousand  years 
before  the  Christian  Era,  "prepared 
iron  in  abundance  for  the  building 
of  his  temple." 


That  the  people  of  India  knew  of 
iron  at  an  exceptionally  early  date 
is  proved  by  their  skill  in  working 
the  metal  long  before  the  Christian 
Era.  At  one  of  the  gates  of  the 
temple  of  Katub,  near  Delhi,  is  a 
wrought  iron  pillar  23  feet  8  inches 
high  above  the  ground.  Its  total 
height,  however,  is  believed  to  be 
about  60  feet.  It  is  16.4  inches 
across  at  the  base  and  12.05  inches 
at  the  top.  Its  weight  is  estimated 
at  seventeen  tons.  A  Sanskrit  in- 
scription places  the  date  of  its  erec- 
tion in  the  tenth  century  before 
Christ.  While  no  definite  date  can 
be  set,  it  is  certain  that  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  manufacture  of  iron 
spread  from  Asia  into  Europe. 

Daimachus,  a  writer  who  was 
contemporary  with  Alexander  the 
Great  (about  300  B.  C.),  enumerates 
four  different  kinds  of  steel  and 
their  uses.  The  Chalybdic,  Syno- 
pic,  Lydian,  and  Lacedaemonian. 
From  the  latter,  he  states,  were 
made  files,  augers,  chisels,  and 
stone-cutting  implements. 

The  crucible  method  of  melting 
steel  is  one  of  the  oldest  forms  of 
melting  iron  and  steel,  being  men- 
tioned in  all  early  writings. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  posses- 
sion of  iron  weapons  among  nearly 
all  the  races  at  this  early  time  would 
suggest  the  use  of  iron  or  steel 
abrading  instruments  in  their  manu- 
facture, but  no  examples  can  be 
found.  Even  though  they  had  ex- 
isted, jt  is  highly  probable  that  the 
oxidizing  action  of  the  elements 
would  have  destroyed  them  during 
such  a  long  lapse  of  years.  There 
is  no  doubt  that  the  great  bulk  of 
the  objects  of  iron  belonging  to 
antiquity  have  totally  disappeared. 
In  proof  of  this  disappearance  of 
iron  and  steel  relics  may  be  men- 
tioned numerous  cases  where  the 
gold  ornamentations  of  iron  and 
steel  swords  and  helmets  have  been 
unearthed  while  the  sword  or  hel- 


[10] 


The  File  In  History 


met  itself  is  only  represented  by  a 
slight  trace  of  rust.  Only  in  those 
parts  of  the  world  where  an  ex- 
tremely dry,  sandy  soil  existed  can 
we  find  any  relics.  And  even  when 
these  are  found,  they  have,  in  many 
cases,  become  so  thoroughly  oxi- 
dized that  they  crumble  to  pieces 
on  coming  into  contact  with  the  air. 
We  touch  at  some  length  and  de- 
tail upon  iron  because  the  real  be- 
ginning of  the  modern  file  and  rasp, 
like  many  other  things,  must  have 
had  its  inception  in  this  metal.  Yet 
with  the  beginning  of  the  use  of 
iron  and  steel  for  the  making  of 
files,  both  records  and  relics  almost 
disappeared.  The  file  by  that  time 
had  become  such  an  everyday  tool 
among  artisans  that  few,  if  any, 
writers  thought  it  worthy  of  spe- 
cial mention.  At  the  same  time,  the 
well-known  corrosive  qualities  of 
these  metals,  which  we  have  just 
touched  on,  gradually  eliminated 
practically  all  the  early  examples 
of  this  kind  of  file. 

First  Iron  Rasp 
Made  By  Assyrians 

The  Assyrians,  who  were  about 
the  first  race  to  profit  by  the  dis- 
covery of  iron,  made  a  straight  rasp 
of  iron  .of  which  an  excellent  ex- 


Fig.  9. — Indian  rasp  for 
smoothing  arrow  shafts. 

were  in  their  tool  making  is  further 
proved  by  the  investigations  in 
Egypt  of  Prof.  Flinders  Petrie.  In 
one  of  his  books  on  that  country, 
he  says: 

"A  set  of  iron  Armourers'  tools 
was  found  at  Thebes  with  a  copper 
helmet  of  Assyrian  form,  and  there- 
fore probably  left  by  the  expedition 
under  Asshur-bani-pal  in  666  B.  C. 
These  tools  comprise  flat  chisels, 


Fig.   10. — Indian  rasp  for  boring  out  cane. 


ample  has  been  found.  Reference 
to  Fig.  8  will  show  that  the  form 
is  exactly  like  that  of  modern  times. 
As  this  rasp  definitely  dates  back 
to  the  seventh  century,  B.  C.,  it  will 
be  seen  how  clever  the  ancients 
were  in  originating  tools  which  have 
preserved  their  essential  form  down 
to  the  present  day. 

How  clever  the  Assyrians  really 


mortise  chisels,  saws,  a  punch,  a 
rasp,  a  file,  a  twist  scoop,  and  two 
center-bits.  The  forms  of  most  of 
these  tools  have  already  attained 
to  the  modern  types;  but  the  file  is 
only  slight  and  irregular,  and  the 
center-bits  are  only  fit  for  hard  wood. 
The  edges  of  these  tools  are  of  steel, 
probably  produced  by  case-hardening 
the  iron." 


[11] 


The  File  In  History 


Fig.   11. — Examples  of  primitive  files. 


Early  Uses 
Of  Tools 

To  illustrate  the  workings  of  the 
primitive  mind  in  various  parts  of 
the  world  at  different  times,  and  to 
give  an  insight  into  the  methods 
probably  in  use  in  very  ancient 
times,  of  which  neither  history  nor 
relics  tell  anything,  we  picture  in 
this  article  several  peculiar  forms 
of  files  that  are  connected  with 
quite  modern  times.  In  Fig.  9  is 
shown  a  rasp  used  by  the  American 
Indians  in  making  arrow  shafts, 
etc.  This  rasp,  which  is  in  the 
Museum  of  the  University  of  Penn- 
sylvania, was  obtained  by  them 
from  the  Indians  in  1908.  It  had 
been  in  use  for  a  considerable 
period.  The  rasp  is  made  of  a 
piece  of  sheet  iron  with  holes 
punched  through.  The  sheet  was 
then  bent  over  like  a  book  cover, 
with  the  rough  edges  of  the  holes 
on  the  inside.  The  article  to  be 
filed  was  run  through  the  interior. 
The  use  of  sheet  iron  has  only  been 
known  to  the  Indians  for  about 
eighty  or  ninety  years,  so  it  will  be 
seen  that  this  rasp  is  comparatively 
modern. 

The  Indians  of  later  times  made 
a  blow  gun  out  of  a  species  of  cane 
which  much  resembled  bamboo.  To 
clear  these  out  and  smooth  the 
joints  they  had  a  special  form  of 
rasp  (see  Fig.  10)  mounted  on  a 
long  thin  stick.  This  rasp,  too,  was 
made  by  punching  holes  in  a  piece 
of  tin  with  a  sharp  instrument,  and 
then  coiling  the  tin  in  a  conical 
form  somewhat  similar  to  that  of 
the  ancient  Egyptians,  as  illus- 
trated in  Figs.  6  and  7  on  pages  8 
and  9.  As  the  Indians  could  have 
no  knowledge  of  the  methods  used 
by  the  Egyptians  several  thousand 
years  ago,  the  similarity  in  these 
rasps  is  striking. 

Belden,  in  his  book,  "The  White 
Chief,"  gives  several  interesting 


[12] 


The  File  In  History 


12 


13 


1.  Heavy  rasp,  blade  13  inches  long,  1  inch  wide.     China. 

2.  Square  file,  11  inches  long,  5/16-inch  square,  cross  cut  on  all  four  sides.    China. 

3.  Pointed  rasp  with  a  curved  face.     Blade  14  inches  long.     China. 

4.  Smaller  rasp,  blade  7  inches  long,  cross  section  elliptical,  but  cut  on  only  one 

side.     China. 

5.  Heavy  wood  rasp.    Made  of  wood  with  42  steel  blades  set  into  it.    China. 

6.  Smaller  wood  rasp.     Same  character  but  with  only  15  blades  set  in  a  straight 

surface.     China. 

7.  Knife-shaped  file.     The  wide  end  is  finely  cross  cut  on  both  sides.     The  narrow 


[13] 


The  File  In  History 


end  is  flat  on  one  side  and  curved  on  the  other,  cross  cut  on  both  surfaces. 
China. 

8.  Small  file.     Blade  only  two  inches  long,  one  side  flat,  the  other  curved,  cross 

cut   on   both   surfaces.     China. 

9.  Crude  hand-cut  file  from   Indo-China. 

10.  Thin  flat  file,   8%    inches  long,   1^4    inches  wide.     Cut  only  on  the  edges  on 

both  sides.     China. 

11.  File  with   a  thin   diamond   shape   cross   section,   finely   cut   on   all  four   sides. 

Indo-China. 

12.  Small  file,  cross  cut  on  the  two  flat  faces,  but  not  on  the  edges.     Japan. 

13.  Dried  tail  of  a  fish,  probably  a  Skate  or  Ray.  used  as  a  wood  rasp.     Yucatan. 

14.  Knife-shaped  file,  cross  cut  on  both  sides  and  single  cut  on  the  back.     China. 

15.  Small  file,  blade  thickest  in  the  middle,  finely  cut  on  all  four  faces.     Japan. 

16.  Rasp,  single  cut  only  about  half  the  length  of  the  blade.     Indo-China. 


descriptions  of  primitive  tool-mak- 
ing which  still  existed  among  the 
Indians  of  North  America  in  the 
first  half  of  the  last  century.  Fol- 


lowing   is    his    description    of    the 
process  of  making  files: 

"The  most  curious  process  was 
making  files  and  rasps.  To  do  this, 
an  alderberry  stick  was  taken  and 
split  in  two.  The  pith  was  then 
scraped  out,  and  into  the  groove 
thus  formed  was  poured  glue  mixed 
with  pounded  flint.  When  dry,  the 
particles  of  flint  formed  the  teeth 
of  the  rasp  or  file.  If  the  file  be- 
came dull,  it  was  only  necessary  to 
wash  it  in  hot  water,  which  re- 
moved the  top  layer  of  glue  and 
worn  flint,  bringing  new  flint  to  the 
surface.  These  files  were  very 
handy  and  of  vast  use  to  the 
Indians.  What  steel  is  to  iron,  they 
are  to  the  wood  and  stone  used  by 
the  Indians.  When  ponies'  hoofs 


Pig.  13. — Typical  heads  of  ancient  stone  hammers. 

(Courtesy  Am.  Museum  of  Nat.  History  ) 


[14] 


The  File  In  History 


became  too  long,  or  splintered,  they 
were  trimmed  down  by  these  rasps. 
Axe  handles,  tepee  poles,  and  iron 
even  were  rubbed  down  with  them." 
Another  primitive  form  of  file 
has  also  been  brought  from  Aus- 


China,  Japan,  and  Yucatan  are  most 
interesting.  Fig.  11  shows  some  of 
these  files  very  clearly.  In  Fig.  12 
is  illustrated  a  number  of  old-time 
primitive  files  from  China  about 
which  comparatively  little  is  known, 


Fig.  14. — Entrance  to  the  Notre  Dame  Cathedral  showing  iron  work  on  doors. 


tralia.  It  was  made  by  fastening 
sharp  fragments  or  plates  of  stone 
to  a  stick  by  means  of  a  tenacious 
gum.  It  affords  a  good  illustration 
of  the  manner  in  which  flint  and 
other  flakes  were  mounted  for  use 
as  files  by  the  early  inhabitants  of 
Australia.  This  file  is  in  the  col- 
lection of  the  Peabody  Academy  of 
Science,  Salem,  Mass. 

Interesting  Collection  Of 
Files  In  Philadelphia 

A  most  remarkable  collection  of 
primitive  files  is  preserved  in  the 
Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum. 
These  come  from  all  portions  of  the 
globe,  but  those  from  China,  Indo- 


but  their  different  forms  and  cuts 
are  interesting. 

While  this  digression  has  brought 
us  for  the  moment  to  comparatively 
modern  times,  it  serves  to  illustrate 
the  extraordinary  variations  in  tools 
used  at  the  same  period,  but  in 
widely  different  places,  and  shows 
how  difficult  it  is  now  to  assign 
regular  progressive  stages  to  the 
development  of  implements  and 
weapons  in  early  times. 

In  this  connection,  the  remarks 
of  Mr.  Wilfred  H.  -Schorr,  Secre- 
tary of  The  Commercial  Museum, 
relating  to  the  collection  in  that 
institution  will  be  of  especial  inter- 
est: 

"These  specimens   in   our  collec- 


[15] 


The  File  In  History 


tion  are  all  of  comparatively  recent 
date,  and  their  primitive  character 
is  due  simply  to  the  fact  that  they 
come  from  countries  still  in  a  primi- 
tive stage  of  civilization.  For  that 
reason,  they  illustrate,  so  far  as 
they  go,  earlier  conditions  in  na- 
tions now  in  a  more  advanced  stage 
of  civilization.  In  actual  time,  we 
do  not  suppose  that  any  of  the 
specimens  shown  would  be  more 
than  thirty  to  thirty-five  years  old, 
and  a  number  of  them,  of  course, 
would  be  more  recent. 

"The  progress  of  ethnological 
knowledge  is,  necessarily,  depend- 
ent, in  great  degree,  on  modern  in- 
stances just  such  as  these,  of  tribes 
and  races  that  have  remained  rela- 
tively undeveloped,  while  other 
races  were  becoming  civilized,  and 
in  that  way  any  specimen  of  a 
present-day  primitive  tribe  is  valu- 
able as  indicating  what  our  own 
ancestors  may  have  been  ten  cen- 
turies ago." 

Until  the  beginning  of  the  Chris- 
tian Era  even  the  blacksmith  con- 
tinued to  fashion  weapons  and 
implements  of  iron  almost  entirely 
with  a  stone  hammer,  and  no  men- 
tion seems  to  be  made  during  this 


exceptionally  efficient.  So,  while 
he  used  a  variety  of  tools,  he  still 
clung  to  his  hammer  as  the  chief 
instrument  of  his  trade.  The  black- 
smith's hammer,  in  fact,  remained 
his  most  important  implement  for 
many  hundreds  of  years. 

While  slight  mention  is  made  of 
files  in  medieval  times — when  they 
must  have  seen  their  first  great  de- 
velopment— we  know  that  much  of 
the  iron  and  steel  work  turned  out 
could  not  have  been  accomplished 
without  the  aid  of  files. 

During  the  Middle  Ages,  St. 
Dunstan,  a  monk  born  in  Glaston- 
bury,  England,  who  is  considered 
the  patron  of  the  blacksmith,  pro- 
duced many  wonderful  things,  and 
greatly  aided  in  the  improvement  of 
metal  tools.  While  there  is  no 
record  to  that  effect,  the  nature  of 
his  work  would  imply  that  the  file 
received  sortie  benefit  from  his  ex- 
traordinary genius.  He  died  in  988. 

Monk  Wrote  Book 
On  File  Making 

Another  monk,  Theophilus  Pres- 
byter, of  the  Benedictine  Cloister, 
Helmeshausen,  gave  to  the  world 


Fig.   15. — Roman  knife  flies  found  at  Tilehester, 
Roman  site,  A.  D.  43  to  300. 

intermediate  period  of  the  use  of  several  recipes  for  tempering  iron 
files.  The  rapid  appearance  in  instruments.  He  also  wrote  a  very 
slightly  later  times,  however,  of  iron  interesting  description  of  file-mak- 


tools  is  shown  by  the  discoveries 
at  Pompeii,  where  the  only  tools 
of  the  present  time  which  the  black- 
smith lacked  were  the  vise  and 
metal-cutting  saw.  His  files  were 


ing  in  Germany  about  the  end  of 
the  eleventh  century.  Among  the 
simpler  forms  of  files  which  he  men- 
tions are  those  made  of  soft  iron, 
which  were  afterward  hardened. 


crude,  and  it  is  presumed  were  riot       After   the    file   had   been   forged    to 

[16] 


The  File  In  History 


the  desired  form  it  was  made 
smooth  by  a  plane  and  then  pro- 
vided with  grooves  and  teeth.  He 
describes  the  hardening  process 
very  clearly,  and,  curiously  enough, 


wanted  to  discover  how  the  work 
was  done.  Numerous  theories  were 
advanced,  one  of  which  affirms  that 
the  iron  was  cast,  "and  then  treated 
with  a  file."  This  shows  that  the 


Fig.  16. — Half-round  flies  unearthed  in  London.     Period  unknown, 
on  the  order  of  rasps. 


They  are  all 


it  does  not  differ  greatly  from  some 
present-day  methods. 

The  men  who  worked  in  iron, 
and  were  the  chief  users  of  such 
tools  as  files,  had  become  at  this 
time  the  most  important  of  the  arti- 
sans. A  guild  of  blacksmiths  was 
formed  in  Florence  in  the  thirteenth 
century,  while  in  England  the 
guilds  of  the  blacksmiths  were 
started  in  1434.  It  is  only  natural 
to  suppose  that  these  men  did  much 
to  develop  the  efficiency  of  the  file 
in  the  course  of  their  daily  work. 

The  earliest  point  at  which  a  defi- 
nite thread  in  its  history  can  be 
regained  is  when  the  Notre  Dame 
Cathedral  was  built  in  Paris  in  the 
thirteenth  century.  A  smith  named 
Biscornette  was  employed  to  deco- 
rate the  doors  of  the  great  cathe- 
dral with  iron  work.  He  performed 
this  work,  which  was  wonderful 
in  its  beautiful  effects,  secretly,  by 
a  process  known  only  to  himself. 
Bits  of  this  iron  were  broken  off 
at  various  times  by  people  who 


file  at  that  time  was  becoming  a 
necessary  part  of  the  smith's  equip- 
ment. It  proves,  too,  that  it  must 
have  reached  a  very  high  state  of 
perfection  to  have  enabled  a  man 
to  do  such  fine  work  in  metal. 

It  was  not  until  the  fourteenth 
century,  however,  that  those  who 
practiced  art  in  ironwork  began  to 
use  other  tools,  besides  heat  and 
the  hammer,  regularly. 

We  read  that  "file  and  saw,  vise 
and  drill  were  called  to  his  (the 
smith's)  aid." 

The  use  of  these  tools  gave 
greater  command  over  the  metal 
as  well  as  better  results  in  the  work. 
This,  too,  would  tend  to  show  a 
steady  improvement  in  the  file, 
rendering  it  more  applicable  to 
heavy  work  in  metal. 

Again,  we  find  a  reference  to  the 
fourteenth  century  grille  in  the 
Cloister  of  LePuy-en-Velay.  Con- 
tinuing his  description  of  this,  the 
writer  says: 

"The    caps    and    bases    are    pro- 


[17] 


The  File  In  History 


duced  by  the  hammer  without  the 
use  of  the  file — processes  soon 
afterwards  abandoned."  This  again 
would  seem  to  indicate  the  growing 
importance  at  that  time  of  the  use 
of  the  file  in  metal  work,  the  rough 
finish  obtained  from  the  hammer 
alone  being  replaced  by  the 
smoother  effects  acquired  by  filing 
down  the  rough  parts  and  joints. 

Germany  Led 
In  File  Making 

In  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury Nueremberg  was  the  foremost 
place  of  production  of  files,  but 
when  the  thirty-years'  war  para- 
lyzed the  industry  of  Germany, 
Sheffield,  England,  became  the  cen- 
tre of  file  manufacturing.  Tradition 
says  that  from  the  earliest  times 
the  manufacture  of  files  has  been 
carried  on  in  Sheffield.  This  is,  no 
doubt,  true,  because  we  know  that 
Sheffield  held  front  rank  in  the 
manufacture  of  tools  for  hundreds 
of  years.  However,  there  is  a  rec- 
ord which  states  that  the  first  file 
was  made  there  in  1618. 

When  the  Calvinists  were  driven 
from  France,  and  the  Netherlands, 
in  1685,  a  great  number  emigrated 
to  Reimscheid,  in  the  present 
Rheinish-Prussia,  and  this  district 
soon  became  the  headquarters  for 
the  tool  industry  of  the  world.  An 
auxiliary  cause  for  this  was  the 
abundance  of  water  power  to  be 
had  in  this  district,  and  Reimscheid 
has  ever  since  sent  out  files  to  all 
parts  of  the  world. 

Files  at  that  time  were  classified 
according  to  their  size,  the  way 
they  were  packed,  their  form,  and 
also  the  purpose  for  which  they 
were  intended.  The  "coarse"  files 
were  heavier,  as  well  as  deeper  cut, 
than  the  "finer."  With  the  "coarse" 
files  were  counted  the  "hand"  files, 
"arm"  files — sometimes  as  heavy  as 


20  pounds — and  the  "packing"  files. 
They  were  also  frequently  called 
the  "straw-files,"  because  they  were 
shipped  tied  together  with  straw 
ropes.  Fleischman,  in  Reimscheid, 
made  a  "coarse"  file  to  order  that 
had  two  hinges,  and  weighed  forty- 
six  pounds. 

All  these  files  were  made  for 
rough  work  and  were  bastard-cut, 
or  so-called  "Jack-files."  The  finer 
files  were  generally  named  after  the 
shape  of  their  cross-cuts,  and  were 
also  known  as  dozen  files,  because 
usually  packed  by  the  dozen. 

The  continued  absence  of  exam- 
ples of  files  of  even  this  later  pe- 
riod can  be  accounted  for  not  only 
through  the  inevitable  rust  and  con- 
sequent disintegration,  but  also 
from  the  fact  that  steel  was  still 
so  valuable  that  when  a  file  was 
worn  out,  it  was  probably  used  to 
make  some  other  implement. 

The  Swiss  began  the  manufacture 
of  files  at  a  very  early  date,  but 
just  when  this  was  is  difficult  to 
say.  They  have  always  been  noted 
for  the  excellence  of  their  files,  but 
they  made  a  specialty  of  the  very 
fine  files  used  in  the  manufacture 
of  jewelry,  and,  in  later  times,  by 
watch-makers. 

File  Cutters 

Among  The  Colonists 

In  America,  during  the  days  of 
the  early  colonies,  most  of  the  files 
that  might  be  required  were  im- 
ported from  abroad,  though  a  few 
artisans  who  had  learned  the  trade 
in  their  mother  countries  may  have 
produced  some  for  local  use.  It  is 
claimed  that  in  1698  there  were  in 
Philadelphia  "artificers  of  many 
kinds,  among  them  cutlers,  gun- 
smiths, locksmiths,  nailers,  and  file- 
cutters."  The  records  also  show 
that  a  concern  named  Broad- 
meadow  &  Company  was  making 
files  in  a  small  way  at  their  factory 


[18] 


The  File  In  History 


in  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  about  1829. 
With  this  exception,  prior  to  1840, 
the  manufacture  of  files  was  practi- 
cally unknown  in  the  United  States. 
About  1845  the  making  of  files 
on  a  small  scale  was  begun  at  Mat- 
teawan,  N.  Y.,  by  John  Rothery, 
an  Englishman.  It  is  reported  that 
he  made  excellent  files,  and  his  sue-- 
cess  induced  others  to  enter  into  the 
business  of  making  files.  From 


that  time  the  manufacture  of  files 
took  a  firm  foothold  in  this  coun- 
try, but  until  about  1864,  Europe 
continued  to  supply  the  greater 
number  of  files  used  in  America. 
It  was  a  long  uphill  fight  for  the 
American  file  manufacturer,  for 
most  of  the  mechanics  had  come 
from  abroad  and  were  naturally 
prejudiced  in  favor  of  the  files  they 
had  learned  to  use  at  home. 


[19] 


The  File  In  History 


.    17 Half-round  file  discovered  in  Hood  Hill,  Dorset,  Romano-British  site. 

Period  B.  C.  50  to  A.  D.  50. 


Fig.  18. — Combined  flat  and  round  file  discovered  at  Ilallstatt.     Date  about  600  B.  C. 


Fig.  19. — Cranked  file  found  among  the  Roman  remains  at  Silchester.     Date  300  A.  D. 
Teeth  5  to  the  inch,  rather  shallow,  apparently  filed  in. 


Fig.  20. — Rasp  and  knife-shaped  files  discovered  by  Prof.  Flinders  Petric,  at  Thebes. 

Date  about  B.  C.  670. 


Fig.    21. — Chisel   for   large    rough    files.      Chisel   for   small    fine   files.      Showing 

angle  of  cuts. 


[20] 


The  File  In  History 


PART  II 

MAKING  THE  MODERN  FILE 


THE     manufacture     of     files, 
until     comparatively     recent 
times,  was  done  entirely  by 
hand.      Just    what    methods 
the    ancients    pursued    in    making 
their  files  it  is  hard  to  say,  but  they 
must   have   followed   similar   meth- 
ods to  those  in  vogue  up  to  about 
sixty  years  ago. 

In  cutting  files  by  hand,  the 
necessary  tools  are  so  simple,  that, 
without  doubt,  those  in  use  in  the 
later  days  of  the  art,  were  similar 
to  what  the  hand  cutters  of  past 
generations  must  have  used. 

Roman  files  that  have  been  found 
at  Alis,  Halstatt,  and  Come- 
Chandron,  particularly  those  found 
at  Halstatt,  are  of  especial  interest 
as  they  show  one  of  the  earlier 
methods  of  producing  the  teeth. 
That  is,  in  some  of  the  early  files 
the  teeth  themselves  were  formed 
by  filing.  The  files  mentioned 
above  gave  every  evidence  of  hav- 
ing been  used  for  this  purpose.  The 
filing  of  the  teeth,  however,  seems 
soon  to  have  been  replaced  entirely 
by  cutting.  A  chisel  made  of  good 
steel  made  it  possible  to  manufac- 
ture the  file  much  quicker  than  by 
the  filing  method. 

Preparing  The 
File  Blank 

In  preparing  the  file  blanks  for 
cutting  by  hand  the  early  stages 
were  much  the  same  as  today.  The 
blanks  were  forged  to  shape  out  of 
bars  of  steel  that  had  previously 
been  rolled.  The  forged  blanks 
were  then  annealed  to  make  them 
more  susceptible  to  the  cutting  edge 
of  the  hard  steel  chisel. 

After  the  annealing  process  the 
surfaces  of  the  blanks  were  cleaned 
and  leveled  so  that  the  entire  sur- 


face was  accurate.  This  was  done 
by  grinding  and  filing.  The  usual 
practice  being  to  file  the  small 
blanks  and  grind  the  large  ones. 

Then  the  blank  was  slightly  oiled 
to  allow  the  chisel  to  slip  over  it 
easily.  It  was  then  ready  for  the 
file  cutter.  This  man  was  seated 
before  a  square  iron  anvil,  usually 
solidly  mounted  on  a  heavy  stone 
base.  Provided  with  blocks  of  lead 
having  appropriate  grooves  to  fit 
files  of  various  forms,  h*e  selected 
the  one  required  and  placed  it  on 
the  anvil,  adjusted  the  file  blank  in 
the  groove,  with  the  tang  toward 
him.  To  hold  the  blank  in  place 
while  being  cut  leather  straps  were 
used.  These  passed  over  each  end 
of  the  file,  and  the  ends  were  held 
down  by  the  workman's  foot. 

The  cutter  would  select  a  chisel 
suitable  for  the  cuts  to  be  made. 
See  Fig.  13  A  and  B.  Then  with  a 
hammer  and  this  chisel  he  would 
cut  the  teeth  in  the  blank  by  a  rapid 
succession  of  blows,  each  time  mov- 
ing the  chisel  a  <  slight,  but  regular 
distance,  toward  himself.  The 
workman  was  aided  in  gauging  this 
distance  by  the  slight  ridge  or  burr 
raised  in  advance  of  the  tooth  being 
cut,  at  each  blow  of  the  chisel.  This 
is  shown  quite  clearly  in  Fig.  13  C. 
For  each  new  tooth  the  chisel  was 
slid  until  it  met  this  ridge,  when  it 
was  ready  for  the  next  cut. 

The  chisel,  held  at  an  angle,  cuts 
the  groove  and  at  the  same  time 
raises  one  edge  of  the  metal,  thus 
forming  the  tooth. 

The  hammer  used  in  file  cutting 
was  of  peculiar  shape  and  weighed 
sometimes  as  much  as  six  pounds. 
This  caused  great  bodily  exertion, 
which,  in  conjunction  with  the  con- 
strained position  of  the  file  cutter 
over  the  anvil,  was  very  injurious 


[21] 


The  File  In  History 


to  health.  All  this  has  been  done 
away  with  by  the  use  of  machines 
which  will  be  described  later. 

Where  double  cut  files  were  being 
made  the  first  cuts  (so-called  "over- 
cut")  had  to  be  oiled  over  to  allow 


Fig.  22. — These  are  typical  hammers 
used  by  hand-file  cutters.  The  grooves 
in  the  handle  of  the  smaller  hammer 
have  been  worn  in  by  the  grasp  of  the 
hand  through  many  years'  use. 

The  peculiar  shape  gives  better  di- 
rection to  the  blow  and  puts  the  weight 
at  the  lower  end  of  the  hammer-head, 
providing  greater  ease  in  working. 

the  chisel  to  slip  over  the  surface, 
which  would  otherwise  have  been 
too  rough.  First  cuts  were 
smoothed  over  with'  a  file  so  the 
chisel  would  work  freely. 

During  this  operation  of  hand 
cutting  the  file  became  slightly  bent. 
To  eliminate  the  danger  of  break- 
age, the  file  was  treated  to  a  red 
heat  before  being  straightened.  It 
was  then  ready  for  the  hardening, 
which  was,  of  course,  performed  ac- 
cording to  the  individual  ideas  of 
the  maker.  The  method,  however, 
was  substantially  the  same  as  used 
today  with  the  exception  that  open 
fires  were  used. 

The  tangs  were  softened  a  little 


after     this     operation     to     prevent 
breakage. 

Hand-made  files  were  produced 
with  an  astonishing  degree  of  dex- 
terity which  was  only  to  be  ac- 
quired by  long  practice.  The  burrs 
cut  on  a  file  with  a  sharp-edged 
chisel  were  produced  at  the  rate  of 
150  to  200  per  minute.  While 
traced  by  the  sense  of  touch  alone, 
the  lines  were  nearly  as  straight  as 
though  cut  by  a  machine.  Such 
skill  was  long  thought  to  be  proof 
against  the  aggression  of  machin- 
ery. As  a  matter  of  fact,  the 
wholesale  introduction  of  machin- 
ery into  file  making  would  prob- 
ably have  been  deferred  until  a 
great  deal  later  date  than  it  was 
had  it  not  been  for  the  chronic  dis- 
content of  the  file  makers  them- 
selves. In  those  days 
strikes  for  higher  wages 
were  very  frequent  and  the 
manufacturer  was  eventu- 
ally compelled  to  choose 
between  labor-saving  machinery  or 
loss  of  trade.  This  brings  us  to  the 
history  of  file-cutting  machines. 

Cutting  Files 
By  Machine 

As  stated,  the  file  cutters  them- 
selves were  mainly  responsible  for 
the  final  adoption  of  machinery  in 
the  manufacture  of  files. 

While  it  was  not  until  around 
1860  that  this  change  began  to  take 
place,  the  efforts  of  inventors  had 
been  directed  toward. the  perfection 
of  a  suitable  machine  for  several 
centuries.  It  is  a  well-known  fact 
that  the  ancients  showed  remark- 
able mechanical  genius  and  pro- 
duced the  basic  ideas  for  many 
modern  tools  and  machines.  Yet 
there  is  nothing  in  history  to  show 
that  they  ever  dreamed  of  cutting 
the  file  in  any  other  way  than  by 
hand.  The  first  authentic  record  of 
a  machine  for  the  cutting  of  files 


[22] 


The  File  In  History 


has  been  chained  from  a  manu- 
script left  by  the  great  Italian 
painter,  Leonardo  da  Vinci,  who 
was  also  famous  as  an  engineer. 
In  1503  he  was  appointed  chief  en- 


make  the  machine  independent  of 
crank  and  "manpower."  A  weight 
and  rope  set  the  main  shaft  in  mo- 
tion. The  length  of  rope  and 
height  of  weight  (giving  length  of 


Fig.  23.— Copy  of  sketch  by  Leonardo  da  Vinci,  illustrating  his  invention  of  a 
file-cutting   machine,    1505   A.    D. 


gineer  and  architect  of  the  Duke 
Caesar's  army,  and  it  was  during 
this  service  that  he  conceived  the 
idea  of  a  file-cutting  machine.  Fig. 
14  shows  a  reproduction  from  his 
drawing  of  this  machine  which  he 
invented  some  time  before  1505.  An 
examination  of  this  drawing  shows 
that  all  parts  of  the  machine  have 
been  carefully  carried  out  and  it  is 
complete  in  all  details.  According 
to  his  description,  he  intended  to 


ultimate  downward  travel)  to  be 
according  to  the  length  of  file  to 
be  cut. 

This  device  shows  his  wonderful 
inventive  capacity  and  mechanical 
skill,  since  even  sixty  years  ago  we 
had  not  advanced  much  farther 
than  the  design  here  shown. 

Mathurin  Jousse  in  a  work  en- 
titled, "La  Fidelle  Ouverture  de 
1'Art  de  Serrurier,"  published  at  La 
Flesche  in  Aujon,  1627,  gives  a 


[23] 


The  File  In  History 


drawing  and  description  of  one  in 
which  the  file  is  drawn  along  by 
shifts  by  means  of  wheel  work,  the 
blow  being  given  by  a  hammer. 

Another  machine  was  invented 
by  a  French  mechanic-  named 
Duverger.  It  has  been  stated  that 
he  produced  this  machine  about 
1735,  but  according  to  the  Journal 
des  Savants,  published  by  the 
Academic  des  Sciences  in  1702,  he 
brought  out  this  machine  and  pre- 
sented it  to  the  Academic  in  1699. 
The  description  in  this  journal  is 
very  complete,  and  it  seems  that 
the  machine  attracted  wide  atten- 
tion at  the  time. 

In  1725,  another  file-cutting  ma- 
chine was  invented  by  Fardonet. 
Thiout  in  his  "Traite  de  1'Horolo- 
gie,"  published  at  Paris  in  1740, 
describes  still  another  machine. 
Brachal  and  Gamain  also  produced 
machines  in  1756  and  1778. 

James  Watt,  the  famous  Scottish 
engineer  and  inventor  of  the  mod- 
ern condensing  steam  engine,  en- 
deavored to  make  a  file-cutting 
machine.  He  was  not  successful 
because  he  did  not  have  a  "pressure 
foot."  This  is  a  device  which  holds 
the  file  firmly  in  place  during  the 
cutting  operation,  and  it  was  not 
until  it  was  perfected  that  a 
machine  became  really  serviceable. 

While  these  machines  were  crude 
and  only  partially  successful,  they 
showed  the  way  for  other  inventive 
minds.  One  of  these  later  inventors 
who  met  with  more  practical  suc- 
cess was  another  French  mechanic 
named  Raoul.  In  1800,  he  pro- 
duced a  machine  which  made  excel- 
lent files.  He  obtained  a  reporr  o,n 
them  from  a  committee  of  the 
Lycee  des  Arts  in  which  it  was 
stated  that  they  were  equal  to  the 
best  English  hand-made  files.  His 
machine,  however,  was  only  used 
to  make  watchmakers'  files. 

At  first  sight,  it  would  appear 
from  the  simplicity  and  continual 


repetition  of  the  movements  re- 
quired in  file-cutting  that  it  was  an 
operation  especially  adapted  to  be 
performed  by  machinery.  Never- 
theless, it  was  not  until  many  years 
after  the  first  inventor  of  a  file-cut- 
ting machine  had  patented  his  de- 
vice that  file-cutting  machines  were 
successfully  used,  and  that  machine- 
cut  files  could  compete  with  the 
hand-made  product  in  the  market. 
Over  two  centuries  passed  between 
the  suggestion  and  the  perfection 
of  the  file-cutting  machine. 

The  advent  of  the  file-cutting 
machine  was  marked  by  a  great 
deal  of  opposition,  for  most  file 
makers  claimed  that  high-grade 
files  could  not  be  made  by  machine. 
The  early  failures  bore  them  out  in 
this  contention,  for  when  first  made 
by  machine,  the  machine  had  a 
tendency  to  curl  the  tooth.  This 
prevented  the  tooth  from  being 
sharp,  and  the  file  failed  to  do  its 
work,  but  today,  one  wonders  how 
a  file  could  ever  have  been  prop~ 
erly  made  by  hand. 

Machine  Cut 
Files  Are  Best 

It  has  been  said  that  the  early 
failure  of  many  machine-made  files 
was  caused  by  lack  of  care  in  the 
selection  of  the  material  used,  not 
entirely  by  the  lack  of  efficiency  in 
the  machines,  for  with  a  machine- 
made  file  the  teeth  are  of  equal 
height  and  every  tooth  cuts.  In  the 
hand-made  file  the  teeth  vary — 
sometimes  to  a  considerable  extent. 
A  machine-cut  file  will  really  do 
more  work  and  last  longer  than  a 
hand-cut.  It  took  time  to  prove 
this,  however. 

The  Swiss,  always  famous  for  the 
quality  of  their  files,  especially  the 
small  sizes  for  dentists,  watchmak- 
ers, etc.,  are  said  to  have  been 
among  the  first  to  use  machinery. 

While    hand-file    makers    claimed 


[24] 


The  File  In  History 


that  the  peculiar  angles  at  which 
the  chisel  must  be  held  precluded 
the  same  results  with  machines,  in- 
vestigators discovered  that  the  re- 
sults obtained  from  the  action  of 
the  chisel  were  only  according  to 
natural  laws  which  machines  could 
easily  produce. 

The  failures  of  the  early  file-cut- 
ting machinery,  however,  discour- 
aged mechanics,  and  led  them  to 
believe  that  nothing  could  ever 
equal  the  hand-cut  file. 

The  first  effort  to  build  a  suitable 
file-cutting  machine  in  the  United 
States,  so  far  as  can  be  ascertained, 
was  made  by  Morris  B.  Belknapp, 
of  Greenfield,  Mass.  On  January 
16,  1812,  he  patented  a  file-cutting 
machine  which  did  not  prove  com- 
mercially successful.  A  certain 
William  T.  James  also  patented  a 
file-cutting  machine  in  the  same 
year. 

In  1836,  Captain  John  Ericsson, 
then  in  England,  patented  a  file- 
cutting  machine  which  is  described 
in  Holzapffel's  work  on  "Mechani- 
cal Manipulation,"  where  it  is  stated 
that  one  machine  could  do  the  work 
of  ten  men.  This  was  followed  in 
1847  by  an  ingenious  machine  in- 
vented by  George"  Winslow,  of 
Boston. 

First  Machines 
Greatly  Imitated 

As  in  the  case  of  many  other  in- 
ventions, as  soon  as  the  first  ma- 
chine appeared  there  came  a  rush 
of  imitators.  There  was,  as  a  con- 
sequence, quite  a  lengthy  list  of 
patents  taken  out  on  file-cutting 
machines  around  this  time.  It 
would  be  useless  to  name  them  all. 
Therefore,  only  those  possessing 
the  most  meritorious  points,  or 
which  laid  the  foundation  for  future 
improvements,  have  been  men- 
tioned. 

The    first    really    practicable    ma- 


chine was  that  invented  by  E.  Ber- 
not,  of  Paris.  This  machine,  which 
is  shown  in  Fig.  15,  was  used  to 
some  extent  with  success  in  France 
and  Belgium,  and  about  1860  was 
introduced  into  Great  Britain.  It 
was  patented  in  the  United  States 
July  24,  1860,  and  later  was  brought 
into  the  country. 


Fig.  24. — Machine  invented  by  E.  Bernot 
— the  first  practical  file-cutting  machine. 

In  1862,  M.  D.  Whipple,  of  Cam- 
bridge, Mass.,  made  a  number  of 
improvements  for  file-cutting  ma- 
chines, but  the  biggest  step  forward 
was  when,  in  the  same  year,  some 
enterprising  capitalists  in  Baltimore 
secured  the  right  to  make  and  use 
Bernot's  file-cutting  machine  in  this 
country.  Nine  of  these  machines 
were  kfcilt  with  slight  modifications 
and  set  up  in  Pawtucket,  R.  I., 
where  they  ran  with  great  success. 

On  January  16  and  June  13  in 
1864/ patents  were  again  issued  to 
Morris  B.  Belknapp,  of  Greenfield, 
Mass.,  for  a  new  machine  for  cut- 
ting files  and  sickles.  This  machine 
cut  from  five  to  six  dozen  twelve- 


[25] 


The  File  In  History 


inch  files  daily.  On  April  11,  of  this 
year,  patents  were  also  issued  to 
Charles  Hesser  and  Amos  Paxson, 
of  Philadelphia,  as  well  as  to  Wil- 
liam T.  James,  of  Greenwich,  N.  Y., 
for  file-cutting. 

In  1865,  W.  T.  Nicholson,  of 
Providence,  R.  I.,  invented  a  file- 
cutting  machine,  which,  'as  im- 


Pig.  25. — A  Disston  File-Cutting  Machine 
—the  finest  type  of  modern  machine. 

proved  and  modified  from  time  to 
time,  is  still  extensively  used  in  the 
United  States. 

Disston's  Begin  The 
Manufacture  Of  Files 

In  the  sharpening  of  saws,  a 
great  many  files  are  used.  During 
the  War  of  the  Rebellion,  Henry 
Disston  &  Son  (this  being  the  firm 
name  at  the  time),  unable  to  obtain 
files  which  would  give  satisfaction, 
found  it  necessary  to  make  files  for 
their  own  use.  This  becoming 
known,  it  was  not  long  before  re- 
quests were  received  from  custom- 


ers that  they  be  supplied.  The  de- 
mand increasing,  it  was  decided  to 
enter  the  field  of  file-making,  and 
in  1866  a  plant  was  equipped  and 
additional  skilled  workmen  em- 
ployed to  turn  out  high-grade  files. 
As  with  his  saws,  Henry  Disston 
always  wanted  to  turn  out  the  best, 
so  he  gave  his  attention  to  the  pro- 
duction of  a  file  that  would  be  su- 
perior in  quality,  shape,  and  cut- 
ting power  of  teeth.  Although  his 
first  files  were  made  by  hand,  he 
realized  early  the  necessity  of  ma- 
chines in  the  production  of  perfect 
files. 

As  none  of  the  machines  so  far 
invented  were  considered  exactly 
perfect,  the  Disston  Works  carried 
on  extensive  experiments  for  the 
production  of  file-cutting  machinery 
that  would  be  adequate  to  meet 
every  demand.  Their  efforts  were 
successful.  In  1877,  the  Disston 
Works  started  to  make  files  by  the 
aid  of  their  own  machines.  Con- 
stant improvements  were  made 
from  year  to  year  until  today  the 
teeth  of  Disston  files  are  cut  upon 
the  most  perfect  file-cutting  ma- 
chines. 

In  1866,  the  Sheffield  Telegraph, 
of  Sheffield,  England,  held  a  con- 
test to  reach  a  final  decision  as  to 
whether  machine  or  hand-cut  files 
were  best.  One  side  of  each  file 
used  was  machine-cut,  and  the  other 
hand-cut.  After  exhaustive  tests 
the  firms  trying  out  these  files  with- 
out a  knowledge  of  which  side  was 
which,  decided  in  favor  of  the  ma- 
chine-cut files,  which  forever  set- 
tled a  controversy  that  had  been 
waged  for  two  centuries. 

As  has  been  shown  in  the  fore- 
going history  of  the  file,  many  of 
the  present  forms  of  the  file  were 
substantially  originated  in  the  ear- 
liest days  of  its  history.  These 
have  been  modified  and  added  to  as 
the  knowledge  of  file  manufacture 
increased,  and  new  and  different 


[26] 


The  File  In  History 


uses  were  discovered.  There  are 
today  a  large  variety  of  files  being 
made.  These  various  forms  will  be 
taken  up  in  the  later  parts  of  this 
article,  but  we  will  first  consider 
the  making  of  the  modern  file.  In 
describing  its  manufacture  the  word 


methods  therefore,  will  give  a  clear 
idea  of  the  manufacture  of  the  mod- 
ern file. 

There  are,  of  course,  quite  a  num- 
ber of  points  upon  which  the  high- 
grade  file  depends  for  its  superior- 
ity. The  principal  ones  are: 


Fig.  26. — Steel  room,  cutting  to  multiples  or  sections. 


file  is  used  in  its  broad  sense  as 
applied  to  both  files  and  rasps,  irre- 
spective of  either  size  or  form. 

Disston  Company  Make 
Greatest  Variety  Of  Files 

Although  not  the  oldest  manu- 
facturers of  files  in  this  country, 
the  Disston  File  Works  today  is 
well  equipped,  and  turns  out  the 
greatest  variety  of  files  made.  A 
general  description  of  the  Disston 


Tough  steel  of  a  high  grade  suit- 
able for  the  purpose. 

Proper  forging  and  annealing. 

Sharp  and  well-formed  teeth. 

Thorough  hardening. 

Careful  inspection  at  every  stage 
of  the  work. 

The  real  basis  of  the  file  is  the 
steel.  All  manufacturers  endeavor 
to  obtain  the  very  finest  steel  pos- 
sible for  the  purpose,  but  the  qual- 
ity of  the  steel  is  bound  to  vary 
to  some  extent  unless  the  manufac- 


[27] 


The  File  In  History 


turer  has  some  way  of  controlling 
the  output.  Steel  for  making  files 
requires  a  high  percentage  of  car- 
bon to  obtain  the  requisite  hard- 
ness. This  carbon-content  is  apt 
to  vary  unless  the  "mix"  is  carefully 
regulated. 


where  the  chemical  and  physical 
tests  of  the  steel  are  made.  Con- 
stant experiments  with  proper  in- 
gredients to  maintain  and  enhance 
its  quality,  are  conducted  in  con- 
nection with  the  steel  works. 

After  the  special   steel   has   been 


Fig.  27. — Forging. 


Make  Their 
Own  Steel 

Henry  Disston  &  Sons  began  to 
make  crucible  steel  as  early  as  1855 
so  that  when  they  took  up  the  man- 
ufacture of  files  they  were  in  a 
position  to  obtain  steel  of  a  high 
and  uniform  quality.  The  Disston 
Steel  Works,  which  includes  the 
melting  department,  rolling  mills, 
steam  hammer  shop,  and  trimming 
room,  occupies  several  commodious 
buildings.  There  are  laboratories 


carefully  and  properly  melted,  it  is 
poured  into  moulds.  When  the 
steel  is  cool,  the  mould  is  removed 
and  the  ingot  which  has  been 
formed  is  then  turned  over  to  the 
rolling  mill,  where  it  is  reheated 
and  rolled  into  large  bars.  These 
bars  are  then  cut  into  smaller 
pieces,  and  the  pieces  are  again 
heated  and  run  through  different 
size  rolls,  which  reduce  the  diame- 
ter, but  increase  the  length.  The 
last  roll  through  which  the  steel 
passes  reduces  it  to  the  particular 


[28] 


The  File  In  History 


size  and  imparts  the  shape  or  form 
desired,  such  as  round,  half-round, 
flat,  three-square,  etc.,  each  thick- 
ness and  shape  being  specially 
rolled. 

It  may  be  of  general  interest  to 
learn  that  in  rolling  steel  for  a  14- 
inch  flat  file,  which  is  approximately 


size  and  shape  required  for  the  file 
and  is  then  approximately  50  feet 
in  length.  This  long  bar  or  rod  of 
steel  is  cut  in  ten  or  twelve-foot 
lengths  and  sent  to  the  file  works, 
where  it  is  cut  into  multiples  the 
length  of  the  file  to  be  made. 
The  first  step,  then,  in  the  actual 


Pig.  28. — The  annealing  ovens  where  the  blanks  are  softened  before  cutting  the  teeth. 
There  are  eighteen  of  these  ovens  in  this  same  room. 


1    7-16-inch   wide   by   2^-inch   thick, 
the  bar,  as  referred  to  above,  meas- 


manufacture  of  the  file  is  the  cut- 
ting of  these  long  rods  of  steel  into 


Tang  of  a  file. 


. 

Wiftii'tttttitiii    ••        -     .  *'iWjj&&SEtBSBSS 


ures  4  inches  by  4  inches,  24  inches 
long.  This  is  heated  and  rolled 
through  one  roll  after  another  con- 
tinuously,  until  it  is  reduced  to  the 


pieces    or    sections   of    the   required 
length.      The    pieces    of    steel    thus 
formed  are  termed   file  blanks. 
The  file  blank  is  then  "tanged." 


[29] 


The  File  In  History 


The  tang  is  the  smooth,  pointed  end 
on  a  file  which  may  be  fitted  to  a 
handle  when  in  use,  although  very 
frequently  the  file  is  employed  with- 
out the  handle.  The  tang,  while 
forming  part  of  the  file,  is  never 
included  when  measuring  the 
length  of  a  file. 


a  certain  degree  of  heat.  Forging 
the  tang  requires  a  certain  amount 
of  skill,  but  so  expert  are  the  men 
who  do  the  work  and  so  quick 
their  actions,  keeping  time  with  the 
rise  and  fall  of  the  power-driven 
hammer,  that  the  tang  is  formed  in 
less  time  than  it  takes  to  describe  it. 


Fig.  30. — Grinding  file  blanks. 


Forging 
The  Tang 

For  the  tanging  operation  the 
blanks  are  taken  to  the  forging 
room  where  one  end  is  heated  and 
forged  or  shaped  into  the  tang. 
The  operator  is  seated  before  an 
automatic  hammer  with  a  small 
furnace  close  at  hand,  in  which  the 
blanks  are  inserted  and  one  end 
heated,  the  temperature  of  the  fur- 
nace being  uniformly  maintained  at 


In  the  case  of  some  of  the  shapes 
of  files,  after  the  tang  is  formed, 
the  other  end  of  the  blank  is  heated 
and  forged  to  shape  or  rounded. 

Before  the  blanks  can  be  ground 
and  the  teeth  cut  it  is  necessary  to 
soften  the  metal.  This  is  called 
annealing,  and  is  the  next  step  in 
their  manufacture.  To  do  this  the 
blanks  are  put  in  air-tight  metal 
boxes,  placed  in  an  oven,  and  sub- 
jected to  a  predetermined  degree  of 
heat  for  a  number  of  hours.  When 


[30] 


The  File  In  History 


taken  out  of  this  oven  they  must 
remain  in  these  boxes  until  cold. 
Otherwise  the  whole  annealing- 
process  would  be  useless,  for  the 
files  would  become  hard  again  if 
allowed  to  cool  in  the  open  air. 

These    various    heating    and    re- 
heating   operations    through    which 


are  "stripped."  This  operation 
takes  away  the  glaze  left  after 
grinding  and  prepares  the  surface 
for  cutting.  By  a  special  process 
the  file  blank  is  rubbed  down,  or 
filed  by  a  finished  file  especially 
made  for  the  purpose.  This  work 
is  done  on  a  machine,  but  it  is 


Fig.  31. — "Stripping"  and  "Cutting"  small  flies. 


the  file  blank  has  passed  cause  it 
to  warp,  or  twist,  and  it  is  neces- 
sary next  to  take  them  to  the 
straightening  department,  where 
they  are  made  level  for  the  grinding 
operation  which  follows.  This 
grinding  operation  is  quite  an  im- 
portant factor  in  the  making  of  a 
file,  for  the  blank  must  be  ground 
to  remove  the  scale  and  oxidizing 
and  made  perfectly  even,  or  else 
when  toothed  the  teeth  will  not  be 
uniform. 

After    being    ground,    the    blanks 


necessary  for  the  operator  in  at- 
tendance to  rub  on,  constantly,  a 
preparation  which  renders  the  sur- 
face of  the  blank  even,  flat,  smooth 
and  firm. 

Cutting 
The  Teeth 

After  the  stripping  process  the 
blanks  go  to  the  cutting  room 
where  the  teeth  are  cut  in  them. 
This  operation  was  formerly  done 
slowly  and  laboriously  by  hand,  as 


[31] 


The  File  In  History 


we  have  previously  described.  It 
is  now  done  entirely  by  machine 
in  the  Disston  Works,  except  for  a 
few  classes  of  odd  shapes  of  files 
which  must  be  cut  by  hand.  Mod- 
ern practice  has  demonstrated,  how- 
ever, that  the  hand-cut  file  cannot 
possibly  possess  the  same  high  em- 


one  side  and  the  second  cut,  or 
"upcut,"  is  put  on,  the  teeth  run- 
ning in  an  opposite  direction.  On 
some  machines  the  chisel  is  turned 
instead  of  the  bed.  On  page  26, 
Fig.  16,  is  illustrated  one  of  the 
machines  on  which  Disston  files 
are  cut.  This  style  of  machine 


Fig.   32.— "Cutting"   large  files. 


ciency  that  a  machine-cut  file  does 
for  the  reason  that  the  machine  will 
do  the  work  uniformly  from  the 
beginning  of  the  day  to  its  close. 
During  the  cutting  operation  the 
blank  is  secured  in  a  "bed"  which 
travels  back  and  forth  under  a 
chisel  that  "raises"  the  teeth  at  a 
speed  the  eye  can  hardly  follow. 
When  double-cut  files  are  being 
made  the  blank  is  put  through  the 
machine  and  "overcut."  Then  the 
position  of  the  bed  is  shifted  to 


represents  the  highest  development 
in  file-cutting  machines,  and  is  one 
of  the  many  reasons  why  Disston 
files  are  so  superior,  both  in  the 
efficiency  and  endurance  of  the 
teeth.  Aside  from  the  machines 
being  differently  constructed,  the 
main  difference  between  cutting 
files  and  rasps  lies  in  the  chisel 
used.  For  files  the  chisel  cuts  an 
angle  all  the  way  across  the  file  at 
one  stroke,  while  the  bed  moves 
steadily.  In  cutting  rasps,  however, 


[32] 


The  File  In  History 


a  pointed  punch  of  peculiar  form 
is  used.  This  punch  travels  back 
and  forth  across  the  blank,  the  bed 
moving  only  after  each  row  of 
teeth  is  completed. 

In  cutting  half-round  files  the 
chisel  cuts  the  teeth  in  rows,  length- 
wise of  the  file  blank  instead  of 


After  passing  inspection  the  file 
is  "cropped"  or  cut  to  exact  length. 
This  operation  consists  of  cutting  a 
small  portion  off  the  point  of  the 
file  to  bring  it  to  proper  length. 
When  "cropped"  the  file  is  stamped 
with  the  famous  Disston  brand  on 
the  end  just  above  the  tang. 


Fig.  32. — Where  files  are  hardened. 


straight  across,  the  bed  being 
moved  back  and  the  position  of 
the  blank  changed  as  each  row  is 
finished. 

Disston  Files 
Rigidly  Inspected 

When  the  teeth  have  been  cut  the 
files  pass  into  the  inspecting  room 
where  a  thorough  examination  is 
made  of  the  teeth.  If  these  are  not 
absolutely  perfect  the  file  is  re- 
jected. 


With  the  very  small  sizes  of  files 
it  is  necessary  to  straighten  them 
after  the  teeth  are  cut.  This  is  done 
by  placing  the  file  on  a  lignum  vitae 
block  and  striking  it  a  light  blow 
with  a  lead  hammer,  which  will 
straighten  the  file  without  affecting 
the  teeth. 

The  file  is  then  covered  with  a 
paste  that  protects  the  edges  of 
the  teeth  during  the  heating  for  the 
hardening  process,  which  is  one  of 
the  most  important  operations.  The 
coated  file  is  heated  by  being  im- 


[33] 


The  File  In  History 


mersed  in  molten  lead,  withdrawn 
and  plunged  deep  in  a  bath,  moved 
back  and  forth  a  few  times  until 
somewhat  cooled.  While  the  file 
is  still  hot  it  is  given  a  final 
straightening. 


from  the  file  the  paste  that  was  put 
on  to  protect  the  teeth  during  the 
hardening.  In  the  second,  the  files 
are  washed  in  lime  water  and  are 
dried  by  holding  them  in  steam. 
The  next  and  last  operation  in 


Fig.  34. — Section  of  superfine  file  department. 


Putting  On 

The  Finishing  Touches 

From  a  comparatively  soft  state 
the  file  has  now  become  so  hard 
that  an  attempt  to  bend  it  will 
cause  it  to  break.  Files  are  never 
tempered,  but  hardened  to  a  par- 
ticular degree  which  gives  greatest 
durability.  After  this  comes  the 
"scrubbing"  and  "drying."  The 
first  of  these  operations  removes 


the  making  of  a  file  before  the  final 
inspection,  is  "blueing"  the  tangs, 
and  oiling  the  file.  This  "blueing" 
operation  toughens  the  tang 
against  breakage  when  putting  on 
the  handle.  It  is  done  by  heating 
and  dipping  the  tang  into  a  prepa- 
ration that  is  maintained  at  a  cer- 
tain degree  of  heat. 

The  files  are  then  oiled,  neatly 
arranged  in  wooden  trays,  and  sent 
to  the  inspectors  for  final  examina- 


[34] 


The  File  In  History 


tion  and  test  for  straightness,  cut- 
ting   qualities,    and    durability. 

Successfully  passing  the  exami- 
nation, they  are  proved  as  to  cutting 
quality  by  the  inspector  drawing 
the  "prover" — a  piece  of  steel 
90  degrees  hard  according  to  the 
Brinell  tests — over  each  side  of  the 
file;  if  the  file  "takes  hold"  of  this 
it  is  next  given  the  "ring"  test,  the 
inspector  dropping  one  end  of  the 
file  on  a  block  of  steel  and  deter- 
mining by  the  ring  if  it  is  sound 
and  true.  The  files  are  now  ready 
for  the  final  step — packing. 


Making  Hxira 
Pine  Piles 

In  the  manufacture  of  superfine 
files,  of  which  Henry  Disston  & 
Sons  make  a  specialty,  the  majority 
of  the  operations  are  similar  to  the 
methods  we  have  been  describing. 
Steel  of  the  same  quality  is  used. 
It  is  cut  into  multiples  in  the  usual 
manner,  followed  by  the  "tanging," 
"annealing,"  "straightening,"  and 
"grinding"  operations  with  which 
the  reader  is  now  familiar. 

The  method  of  manufacture  dif- 
fers slightly  after  the  grinding 
operation.  The  superfine  file  blank 
is  put  through  a  "shaping"  process 
which  corresponds  in  effect  to  the 
"stripping"  operation  in  the  case  of 
the  larger  files. 

To  do  this  the  file  blank  is  se- 
cured in  a  vise,  and  the  soft  surface 
(the  blank  not  having  been  hard- 
ened as  yet)  is  smoothed  down  with 
a  finished  file  made  especially  for 
the  purpose. 

As  in  the  "stripping"  operation 
described  for  regular  files,  this 
process  is  necessary  to  make  the 
surface  of  the  blank  smooth  and 
even  before  the  cutting  operation, 
which  follows. 


Owing  to  the  fineness  of  teeth 
and  the  different  shapes  in  which 
the  superfine  files  are  made,  the 
"toothing"  operations  are  also 
somewhat  different. 

On  files  that  are  made  for  extra 
fine  work,  such  as  those  for  jewel- 
ers', dentists',  and  surgeons'  use, 
the  teeth  are  "etched"  in.  This 
method  of  toothing  a  superfine  file 
is  done  with  an  apparatus  of  very 
peculiar  construction.  It  differs 
radically  from  the  methods  used 
in  cutting  larger  files,  involving  a 
greater  amount  of  hand  work,  but 
this  is  necessary  on  account  of  the 
fineness  of  the  teeth. 

In  cutting  the  teeth  of  a  half- 
round  superfine  file  it  is  necessary 
to  use  two  "beds."  The  file  blank 
when  fitted  in  the  "groove"  of  the 
first  "bed"  is  nearly  on  edge  with 
the  flat  side  toward  the  operator. 
The  teeth'  are  then  "raised"  or  cut 
in  narrow  rows  at  an  angle  to  the 
line  of  the  file  blank,  but  only  half 
way  around.  Another  "bed"  is  then 
substituted.  This  also  stands  the 
file  blank  nearly  on  edge,  but  with 
the  round  side  toward  the  opera- 
tor. The  teeth  are  cut  toward  the 
center  until  they  meet  the  last  row 
of  teeth  cut  from  the  other  side.  To 
shift  the  "bed"  so  that  the  chisel 
can  cut  each  row,  a  worm-gear, 
adjusted  by  the  operator  is  used. 

In  the  case  of  a  single-cut  file 
the  cutting  of  the  teeth  would  now 
be  finished,  but  in  cutting  double- 
cut  files  the  operation  is  gone  over 
again.  This  time  the  center  of  the 
chisel  is  over  the  spot  where  two 
rows  of  teeth  connect.  In  this  way 
the  chisel  "upcuts"  over  half  of 
each  row — the  "upcut"  teeth  run- 
ning in  an  opposite  direction  to  the 
first  teeth. 

After  the  toothing  operation,  the 
superfine  files  go  through  another 
straightening  process  before  the 
hardening.  This  straightening  is 
also  done  with  a  lead  hammer  so 


[35] 


The  File  In  History 


that  the  teeth  will  not  be  damaged  low,  is  done  in  the  same  manner  as 

in  any  way.  with  larger  files. 

They  are  then  taken  to  the  hard-  The  files  are  then  sent  to  the  in- 

ening    room    and    hardened,    which  specting  room  where,  before  being 

operation,.       together       with       the  packed,    they    are    given    the    final 

"straightening,"    "scrubbing,"    "dry-  inspection  and  tests  similar  to  those 

ing,"   and   tang   "blueing"    that   fol-  described  for   regular   files. 


[36] 


The  File  In  History 


PART  III 

FORMS  AND  USES  OF  FILES 


THE  foregoing  closed  the  his- 
tory of  the  file  as  well  as  the 
details    of    its    making.      To 
make  this  article  more  com- 
plete, however,  it  will  be  extended 
to  embrace  a  general  description  of 


or  form  of  teeth.  Many  files  of 
different  shapes  have  teeth  of  simi- 
lar form,  as  there  are  only  a  cer- 
tain number  of  standard  forms  of 
"cut."  For  this  reason  the  varia- 
tions in  the  "cut"  or  form  of  teeth 


SINGLE  CUT 

Particularly  adapted  for  saw  filing,  also  used   on  lathe  work  by  machinists  and 
by  SQine  classes  of  wood  workers,  carriage  builders,  etc. 


Rough 


Middle 


Bet.   bastard  &  middle 


Bastard 


Second-cut. 


Smooth 


Fig.  35. — These  "cuts"  are  in  general  use  for  12-inch  files.    On  files  longer  than  12 
inches  the  "cut"  is  made  proportionately  coarser  and  finer  on  shorter  lengths. 


the  forms  and  uses  of  the  modern 
file;  for  so  widespread  is  the  use  of 
this  tool — so  interwoven  with  the 
industries  of  the  world — that  it  has 
become  indispensable. 

Files,  according  to  the  purposes 
for  which  they  are  intended,  differ 
in  shape  and  thickness,  and  in  "cut" 


will  be  considered  first.  With  a 
thorough  understanding  of  this, 
later  references  will  be  much 
clearer. 

In  the  first  place,  the  term  "cut" 
refers  to  two  characteristics  of  the 
teeth  and  is  a  general  term  that 
must  be  supplemented  with  a  more 


[37] 


The  File  In  History 


DOUBLE  CUT 

Fig.  36. — Especially  adapted  for  use  in  machine  shops,  locomotive  works, 
foundries  and  similar  classes  of,  work. 


Rough 


Middle 


Bastard 


Second-cut 


Dead    smooth 


Smooth 
RASP  CUT 

Fig.  37. — Used  by  blacksmiths,  horseshoers,  plumbers,  cabinet  makers, 
wood  workers,  etc. 


Horse 


Rough 


Middle 


Bastard 


Second-cut 
[38] 


Smooth 


The  File  In  History 


definite  designation  when  an  exact 
description  of  the  file  is  intended. 
The  kind  or  character  of  the  teeth 
in  a  file,  as  well  as  the  degree  of 
coarseness  or  fineness,  are  both 
embraced  in  the  general  term  "cut," 
but  each  of  these  characteristics  has 
its  separate  classification.  The 
character  of  the  teeth  is  described 
under  three  main  divisions,  viz.: 
single  cut,  double  cut,  and  rasp 
cut. 

The  single  cut  file  has  one  un- 
broken course  of  teeth  or  chisel 
cuts  across  its  surface,  parallel  to 
each  other,  but  usually  at  an  ob- 
lique angle  to  the  length  of  the  file. 
Chisel-like,  it  makes  a  smooth  cut. 
A  few  patterns  of  files,  however, 
have  the  teeth  cut  square  across  the 
face  of  the  file  and  more  widely 
spaced.  This  is  called  the  float 
cut  and  is  used  for  filing  lead, 
babbitt,  or  other  soft  metals,  and 
also  for  cork  and  wood.  The  wide 
space  between  the  teeth  is  neces- 
sary that  the  file  may  free  itself  of 
the  cuttings,  which  in  a  finer  cut 
file  would  fill  up  and  clog  the  teeth. 

The  single  cut  is  used  on  the 
majority  of  mill  files,  taper  saw 
and  other  saw  files. 

The  double  cut  file  has  two 
courses  of  chisel  cuts  crossing  each 
other,  both  oblique  across  the  file 
blank.  The  first  course  is  called 
the  "over-cut"  and  the  second 
course  the  "up-cut."  Its  direction 
being  across  the  first  course,  the 
chisel  cuts  through  the  over-cut. 
Consequently  the  teeth  of  double 
cut  files  are  "points,"  and  those  of 
single  cut  files  are  chisels.  The 
double  cut  is  used  on  all  machinists' 
files,  such  as  flat,  hand,  square, 
round,  half-round,  etc.,  with  the  ex- 
ceptions of  the  round  bastard  files 
10  inches  and  under  in  length,  and 
second  cut  and  smooth  files  16 
inches  and  under  in  length  which 
may  be  single  cut. 

Rasp    cut    differs    from    both    the 


above  in  that  the  teeth  are  not 
placed  in  parallel  rows  across  the 
file,  but  are  staggered,  each  tooth 
being  put  in  separately  by  a  pointed 
tool  or  punch.  While  cutting  uni- 
formly, rasp  teeth,  because  they  are 
larger  and  raised  higher,  cut  much 
faster  than  either  single  or  double 
cut  teeth. 

The  illustrations  of  "cuts"  on  the 
preceding  pages  are  engraved  from 
files  and  rasps  12  inches  long;  if 
longer  than  12  inches  the  cuts  will 
be  coarser,  and  if  shorter,  they  will 
be  finer  in  proportion. 

Varying  Degrees 
Of  Coarseness 

The  degree  of  coarseness  is  de- 
noted .  by  the  names  bastard,  sec- 
ond-cut, and  smooth.  In.  addition 
to  these  there  are  coarser  cuts 
known  as  rough  and  coarse;  also 
a  finer  cut  identified  as  dead 
smooth. 

The  name  bastard  as  applied  to 
the  cut  of  a  file  comes  from  the 
days  when  files  were  entirely  cut 
by  hand  and  it  is  supposed  to  have 
been  given  to  a  cut  between  what 
was  termed  rough  cut  and  the 
finer  grades  of  cutting,  and  the  file 
became  a  standard,  taking  the  place 
of  rough  oj  coarse  cuts  and  has 
been  known  since  then  as  the  bas- 
tard cut.  The  same  is  the  case 
in  the  names  of  flat  bastard  and 
hand  bastard  files;  while  both  are 
the  same  as  to  cut,  they  vary  a  little 
in  shape  and  both  are  often  used 
for  the  same  purpose. 

The  various  groups  or  classes 
of  files  have  certain  accepted  stand- 
ards for  the  cuts  to  be  used.  Ref- 
erence to  the  explanation  above  of 
the  single  and  double  cuts  as  well 
as  to  the  illustrations  will  afford 
a  fairly  complete  index  to  these. 
It  is  well  to  bear  in  mind  that  a 
"rough-cut"  or  coarse  file  has  the 
least  number  of  teeth  to  the  inch, 


[39] 


The  File  In  History 


while  the  "smooth-cut"  or  fine  file 
has   the   greatest. 

Exceptions  to  the  standard 
forms  and  cuts  of  files  are  some- 
times found  in  the  various  trades. 
To  meet  certain  conditions  peculiar 
to  a  business  special  forms  and  cuts 
are  sometimes  necessary. 


saw  works  and  handle  department 
and  machine  shops — they  are  in  an 
exceptionally  favorable  position  to 
judge  the  results-  obtained  from  all 
classes  of  teeth.  The  standards 
which  they  have  adopted,  therefore, 
may  be  taken  as  the  final  word  re- 
garding the  shape  and  number  of 


PRINCIPAL  FORMS   OF  FILES 


Half-round 


Cant   or   lightning 


Mill 


Flat 


Pillar 


Great  American  Horse    rasp  Shoe  rasp 

Fig.  38. — The  above  are  actual-size  sections  of  different  types  of  flies  of  the 
length  given  on  each  section.  The  illustrations  of  files  following,  however,  are  con- 
siderably reduced  in  size,  but  show  comparative  shape. 


In  this  connection  it  is  well  to 
state  that  while  there  are  accepted 
standards  for  the  character  of  the 
teeth,  there  is  no  established  rule 
fixing  any  certain  number  of  teeth 
to  the  inch  for  any  particular  cut. 
Consequently  there  is  more  or  less 
of  a  variation  in  the  number  of 
teeth  cut  to  the  inch  by  different 
manufacturers.  Owing  to  the  very 
large  quantity  of  files  used  in  the 
shops  of  Henry  Disston  &  Sons — 
over  35,000  dozen  annually  in  their 


teeth  to  the  inch  necessary  to  ob- 
tain the  highest  efficiency  from  a 
file. 

Varieties 
Of  Files 

Having  explained  as  clearly  as 
possible  in  the  foregoing,  the  differ- 
ences in  the  teeth  of  files,  we  will 
now  take  up  the  varieties  of  files, 
together  with  some  of  their  uses. 


[40] 


The  File  In  History 


Mill  file 


Mill    file   with  Blunt 

one  round  edge  mill    file 

Fig.  39. 


Narrow    point 
mill  file 


Modern  files,  though  employed 
chiefly  in  the  forming  and  finishing 
of  metals  and  wood,  are  also  used 
to  a  considerable  extent  upon  other 
substances,  such  as  bone,  leather, 
celluloid,  hard  rubber,  etc.  The 
general  use  of  files  is  in  shaping 


small  pieces,  or  in  finishing  sur- 
faces which  are  already  of  approxi- 
mately correct  form.  In  machine 
shop  practice  the  use  of  the  file  fol- 
lows the  work  of  the  lathe  or  planer 
tools. 

Files  are   graded   by   shape,  size, 


[41] 


The  FUe  In  History 


and  fineness  of  cut,  and  the  forms 
given  to  them,  as  well  as  the  sizes, 
run  into  many  hundreds.  Of  all 


Double  tang  Chisel  tooth    Pit  saw       Cant 
mill  file  file  file  file 

Fig.   40. 

tools  known  there  are  none  used 
for  so  many  purposes  and  of  so 
many  styles  as  files.  There  are 

.;..-;.-;:       •:.  ,  •.;./ 


several  hundred  types  of  regular 
files  and  several  thousands  of  regu- 
lar and  special  combined,  all  of 
which  are  designated  by  a  name 
according  to  the  length,  shape,  and 
grade  of  the  cut;  besides  the  hun- 
dreds of  special  names  for  the  pur- 
poses for  which  the}'  are  made  and 
used. 

The  sizes  range  from  the  fine, 
wire-like  jewelers'  file  to  the  large, 
heavy  machinists'  file — from  the 
tiny  superfine  broach  file,  3  inches 
long,  and  less  than  1-32  of  an  inch 
in  diameter,  which  weighs  only  .008 
of  an  ounce,  1800  to  the  pound,  to 
great  circular  facing  files  which 
weigh  135  pounds  each. 

In  the  character  of  their  teeth 
they  vary  even  more  greatly,  from 
the  deep,  coarse  rasp-cut  files  used 
by  farriers  to  the  dead-smooth  sur- 
faces of  the  delicate  little  imple- 
ments employed  by  jewelers.  Files 
are  classified  as  to  coarseness  and 
fineness  principally  by  the  "cuts" 
described  on  pages  37  and  38,  and 
upon  these  are  based  the  variations 
which  are  required  by  the  class  of 
work  to  be  performed. 

On  page  40  are  shown  sections 
of  some  of  the  files  in  general  use. 
These  basic  forms,  with  slight  de- 
viations, control  the  forms  of  the 
principal  files  now  manufactured. 
Reference  to  these  sectional  views 
and  the  "cut"  illustrations  will  be 
of  considerable  aid  in  following  the 
descriptions  of  files  that  are  to  fol- 
low. 

Under  the  general  heading  of  files 
are  found  four  groups,  viz.:  regular 
files,  rasps,  superfine  files,  and 
special  files.  These  four  groups 
in  turn  resolve  themselves  into 
other  divisions  which  embrace  $  a 
great  variety  of  files.  fo 

In  picturing  and  describing  th 
different  files,  the  group  of  regui 
files  will  be  taken  up  first. 

There  are  two  divisions  of  regu- 


[42] 


The  File  In  History 


lar  files— saw  files  and  machinists' 
files. 

As  the  name  implies,  saw  files 
are  particularly  adapted  for  sharp- 
ening saws  and  also  for  work  simi- 
lar to  filing  the  edge  of  plates  or 
sheets,  for  which  the  double-cut 
files  are  not  suited.  They  are  sin- 
gle-cut and  in  degree  are  usually 
b  a  s  t  a  r  d-c  u  t,  second-cut,  and 
smooth-cut. 

The  class  of  work  performed  in 
machine  shops  necessitates  a  differ- 
ent character  of  "cut"  from  the 
above — hence  machinists'  files  are 
usually  double-cut  and  in  degree 
rough-cut,  bastard-cut,  second-cut 
and  smooth-cut. 

The  repetition  above  of  the  word 
"usually"  may  appear  peculiar,  but 
it  is  used  advisedly,  for  it  may 
truly  be  said  that  in  no  other  line  of 
manufacture  are  there  so  many 
variations  from  regular  as  in  the 
file  business. 

Of  the  class  of  saw  files  the  one 
having  the  widest  range  of  shapes, 
sizes,  and  cuts,  is  the  mill  file. 

Mill  files  derive  their  name  from 
the  fact  that  they  are  used  prin- 
cipally for  filing  mill  saws  and  for 
sharpening  planer  knives.  They  are 
also  used,  however,  for  sharpening 
mowing  and  reaping  machine 
knives,  as  well  as  for  certain  kinds 
of  work  by  mechanics,  such  as 
lathe  work,  draw-filing,  etc.  They 
are  used,  too,  for  finishing  combina- 
tions of  bronze  and  brass.  Having 
chisel  teeth  they  leave  a  compara- 
tively smooth  surface,  which 
double-cut  teeth  do  not,  though 
double-cut  teeth  cut  faster.  All  mill 
files  are  single-cut. 

Mill  files  are  forged  tapering 
from  near  center  to  point.  This 
applies  to  both  width  and  thick- 
ness, as  they  are  slightly  thinner 
and  narrower  at  the  point. 

Mill  files  are  also  made  with  one 
and  two  round  edges,  single-cut 


both  on  the  sides  and  edges.  The 
round  edges  make  the  mill  file 
more  adaptable  for  filing  the  teeth 
in  circular  and  other  mill  saws.  The 
use  of  the  round  edge  prevents  the 
formation  of  sharp  corners  or 
notches  in  the  gullets  between  the 
saw  teeth. 

Blunt  mill  files  are  parallel  in 
both  width  and  thickness.  This 
gives  the  full  width  of  the  surface 
for  the  entire  length  of  the  file. 
Otherwise  they  are  the  same  as 
those  just  described.  These  are 
rarely  used  by  millmen,  but  are 
mostly  in  demand  for  machine  shop 
work. 

The  narrow  point  mill  file  is 
another  variation  of  the  mill  file. 
There  is  no  particular  advantage  in 
the  extra  narrow  point,  it  being 
simply  a  .matter  of  preference. 
Very  few  narrow  point  mill  files 
are  sold  in  the  United  States.  The 
majority  of  those  manufactured  go 
to  Canada. 

There  is  also  a  special  mill  file 
having  what  is  called  a  fine  bas- 
tard cut.  This  is  a  cut  between 
the  bastard  and  the  second-cut, 
and  is  used  by  many  who  prefer  a 
file  that  will  meet  certain  require- 
ments in  saw  filing  which  a  bas- 
tard or  second-cut  file  will  not. 

The  double  tang  mill  file  is 
meant  for  use  with  two  handles.  A 
man  can  then  grasp  it  conveniently 
with  both  hands.  It  is  used  chiefly 
for  draw  filing. 

A  saw  file  which  departs  some- 
what from  the  standard  form  is  the 
chisel  point  file.  This  is  made 
especially  for  use  in  sharpening  the 
points  of  inserted  tooth  circular 
saws. 

The  pit  saw  file  is  used  for  filing 
the  teeth  in  pit  saws  and  frame 
saws.  When  used  for  the  latter 
purpose  it  is  sometimes  asked  for 
under  the  name  of  frame  saw  file. 

The  cant  or  lightning  file  is 
frequently  used  for  sharpening  the 


[43] 


The  File  In  History 


teeth  of  wood  saws,  or,  as  more 
commonly  known,  buck  saws.  Its 
principal  use,  however,  is  to 
sharpen  the  teeth  of  cross-cut  saws 
having  M-shaped  teeth,  and  to 
sharpen  the  raker  teeth  of  cross-cut 
saws. 


Necessity  For 
Special  Files 


Great  Stave         Field's 

American  saw          pattern 

cross-cut  file        stave  saw 

"saw  file  file 

Fig.  41. 


Round 
file 


[44] 


A  very  strong  example  of  how  it 
is  necessary  to  make  special  files 
for  special  purposes  is  furnished  by 
the  Great  American  cross-cut  saw 
file. 

In  this  case,  as  well  as  in  many 
others,  almost  any  file  could  be 
used  with  a  certain  degree  of  suc- 
cess. This,  and  numerous  other 
special  files,  however,  have  proved 
by  long  and  extensive  use  that  no 
other  file  can  completely  answer  the 
purpose  for  which  a  special  file  is 
intended. 

The  popular  cross-cut  saw  known 
as  the  "Great  American"  was  origi- 
nated, and  the  name  trade-marked, 
by  Disston.  The  special  form  of 
the  teeth  on  this  saw  necessitated 
a  file  being  made  to  suit  them. 
This  was  done  and  it  was  also 
trade-marked  "Great  American." 

By  referring  to  the  diagram  of 
the  teeth  of  a  "Great  American" 
cross-cut  saw  on  page  45  it  will 
be  seen  why  this  special  form  of 
file  is  necessary.  When  the  file  is 
in  the  spaces  marked  A,  while  fil- 
ing the  bevel  on  the  teeth,  it  will  be 
seen  that  only  a  wedge-shaped  file 
like  the  "Great  American"  could  be 
used  to  advantage.  On  the  other 
hand,  for  filing  the  gullets  marked 
B,  a  specially  formed  broad  and 
rounded  edge  is  necessary  on  the 
file. 


The  File  In  History 


This  detailed  explanation,  while 
applying,  in  this  instance,  to  one 
particular  file,  affords  an  insight 
into  the  causes  which  have  made 
necessary  so  many  varieties  of  files. 

The  stave  saw  file  is  somewhat 
similar  to  the  mill  file  with  two 
round  edges.  It  is  formed  on 
slightly  different  lines,  however,  to 
make  it  suitable  for  the  purpose  for 
which  it  is  intended — filing  the  teeth 
on  cylinder  s'aws.  A  special  stave 
saw  file  of  peculiar  form  is  that 
known  as  field's  pattern.  This 
somewhat  follows  the  lines  of  a 
three-square  file,  except  that  one 
edge  is  broad  and  rounded. 

Round  files  are  made  for  vari- 
ous purposes,  such  as  enlarging 
holes,  etc.  These  are  generally 
tapered,  but  sometimes  they  are 
made  parallel  or  of  uniform  diame- 
ter from  heel  to  point.  The  latter 
are  called  round  blunt  files.  A 
round  blunt  file  for  mill  use  is 
the  round  gulleting  file.  Owing 
to  the  tapering  form  of  the  round 
files,  they  are  frequently  referred 
to  as  rat-tail  files. 

Another  gulleting  file  is  known  as 
the  square  gulleting  file.  This  is 
blunt,  square  in  form,  and  single- 
cut  on  four  faces. 

The  topping  file  is  a  file  similar 
to  the  mill  file,  but  of  heavier 
stock. 

There  are  several  files  especially 
made  for  band  saw  use.  These  are 
along  the  lines  of  the  taper  file, 
and,  in  fact,  taper  files,  regular 
and  slim,  for  band  saw  use  are  reg- 
ularly made.  About  the  only  differ- 
ence between  these  and  the  regular 
taper  saw  files  is  that  they  have 
the  corners  or  edges  more  rounded 
and  have  three  rows  of  cuts.  The 
"cut"  is  the  same  as  given  the  reg- 
ular taper  file.  Band  saw  files 


include  the  blunt  and  machine 
band  saw  files.  The  machine  file 
fits  in  a  band  saw  filing  machine 
which  sharpens  the  teeth  automati- 
cally. These  machine  files  are 
usually  about  four  and  one-half 
inches  in  length  and  are  made  both 
heavy  and  light  as  shown  in  the 
illustration  (page  47). 


Files  For 
Small  Saws 

This  completes  the  list  of  single- 
cut  files  adapted  to  mill  require- 
ments. Single-cut  saw  files  in- 
tended for  hand  saws  and  other 
small  saws  will  now  be  taken  up. 
Heading  the  list  of  these  are  the 
taper  saw  files.  Taper  files  are 
three-cornered  files,  similar  to  the 
three  square  files,  but  usually 
smaller  in  length.  The  principal 
difference  between  them  is  the  fin- 
ishing of  the  edges.  Taper  files 
have  the  edges  slightly  rounded, 
to  leave  a  round  bottom  in  the  gul- 


Fig.  42. 


let  of  the  tooth,  and  these  edges 
are  cut  as  well  as  the  sides.  The 
three-square  file,  which  is  always 
double-cut,  on  the  other  hand,  has 
the  edges  left  quite  sharp,  and  un- 
cut. The  taper  saw  file  is  usually 
single-cut  and  is  used  generally  for 
sharpening  hand  saws.  For  this 


[45] 


The  File  In  History 


reason  there  is  probably  no  other 
file  so  widely  used,  or  so  well 
known. 

Taper  files  are  divided  into  three 
classes:  the  regular  taper  file,  the 
slim  taper  file,  the  extra  slim  taper 
file,  and  some  are  made  extra  extra 
slim.  The  slim  taper  files  are  of 
the  same  general  shape  as  the  regu- 
lar taper  file,  but  are  made  of  a 
narrower  section  of  steel  for  the 
same  length.  They  are  preferred 
by  many  on  account  of  the  greater 
sweep  or  stroke  obtained  from  the 
same  thickness  of  file.  The  slim 
taper  file  is  particularly  adapted  for 
filing  fine  tooth  saws. 

The  extra  slim  and  extra  extra 
slim  taper  are  files  similar  to  the 
slim  taper  files,  but  are  made  of 
narrower  stock  and  are  adapted  for 
filing  the  very  fine  toothed  saws. 

A  variation  of  the  taper  file  is 
the  reversible  taper  saw  file.  These 
files  are  forged  tapering  from  the 
center  toward  both  ends  and  are 
single-cut  in  the  same  way.  This 
gives  the  advantage  of  two  files  in 
one. 

Still  another  variation  is  the 
blunt  saw  file.  This  is  triangular 
in  form,  but  parallel  in  thickness 
instead  of  tapering  to  a  point.  It 
is  "cut"  similar  to  a  taper  file. 

The  Little  Wonder  saw  file  (il- 
lustration page  48)  is  preferred  by 
some  mechanics  for  filing  hand  and 
other  saws  on  account  of  its  special 
shape  and  the  thumb  rest  on  the 
end. 

Hunt's     chrome     special     three- 
square   file   is    particularly   adapted 
Slim        French      Stubbs'        Perfection    for  filing  fine   tooth   hand  saws, 
taper  tile      taper         pattern      shear   tooth 

cut  to          tile        double  cut  file  A       *u  •  i  £i      r  j 

point  saw  gig  Another   special   saw   file  formed 

Fig.  43.  along    the    lines    of    the    cant    or 

[46] 


The  File  In  History 


Round  Square 

blunt          gulleting 
file  file 


Topping        Blunt  band        Machine  Machine 

saw  file  saw  file          band  saw  band  saw 

file,  light  file,  heavy 
Fig.  44. 


The  File  In  History 


Slim  Extra  slim          Reversible          6-inch  cant  Little  Blunt 

taper  taper  taper  saw  safe   back  Wonder  saw  tile 

saw  file  saw  file  file  file  saw  file 

Fig.  45. 


[48] 


The  File  In  History 


lightning  is  the  cant  safe  back 
file.  This  is  similar  in  shape,  an 
irregular  triangle,  but  is  cut  only 
on  the  broad  side,  the  other  two 
sides  being  "safe"  or  uncut.  This 
file  is  particularly  adapted  for  filing 
the  Disston  No.  120  Acme  Hand- 
saw, which  is  specially  ground  and 
toothed  to  run  without  set. 

The  climax  file  is  another  file 
especially  made  for  its  purpose — 
that  of  filing  wood  saw  blades  and 
similar  blades. 

The  two  last  mentioned  files  are 
of  special  form,  and,  by  their  use, 
the  original  shape  of  the  saw  teeth 
will  be  retained. 

Before  closing  this  description  of 
single-cut  saw  files  it  may  be  well  to 
call  attention  to  two  taper  files 
which  vary  slightly  from  the  usual 
forms.  These  are  made  principally 
for  export,  as  there  is  no  great  de- 
mand for  them  in  this  country. 

One  of  these  is  a  taper  file  cut 
to  the  point.  That  is,  the  "cut"  is 
carried  to  the  extreme  end,  or  point, 
of  the  file,  instead  of  leaving  a 
small  portion  of  the  point  blank. 
This  difference  can  be  seen  by  com- 
paring the  illustrations  on  page  46 
with  those  of  regular  tapers. 

The  other  is  the  French  taper 
file  which  is  similar  to  the  regular 
file  in  all  respects  save  that  the  sec- 
tion of  steel  from  which  it  is  made 
is  much  heavier. 


Double  Cut 
Saw  Files 

In  taking  up  double-cut  files 
under  the  division  of  saw  files  it  is 
to  be  noted  that  many  of  the  forms 


of  files  which  are  generally  single- 
cut,  and  were  described  under  that 
heading,  can  also  be  obtained  as 
double-cut  files.  Mill  files  and 
taper  saw  files  are  typical  of  this; 
also,  in  a  limited  way,  cant  and  pit 
saw  files.  While  the  double-cut 
files  cut  faster,  the  single-cut  make 
a  much  smoother  cut. 

One  of  the  exceptions  to  the  rule 
that  saw  .files  are  single-cut  is  the 
Stubbs'  pattern  taper  saw  file. 
This  file  is  double-cut  down  to  the 
point  and  is  principally  used  for  fil- 
ing saws  that  are  harder  than  usual, 
such  as  hack  saw  blades.  The  most 
noticeable  difference  in  the  Stubbs' 
pattern  file  is  found  in  the  tang  and 
the  short  taper  to  point.  Instead  of 
having  a  shoulder  where  the  body 
of  the  file  usually  drops  sharply 
to  the  small  diameter  of  the  tang, 
the  tang  gradually  tapers  off  with 
the  three  edges  carried  all  the  way 
to  the  point. 

As  practically  all  saw  files  are 
single-cut  this  description  of 
double-cut  saw  files  completes  the 
list  of  this  class  of  file,  except  those 
used  on  metal-cutting  saws.  Files 
of  this  nature,  however,  require  a 
superfine  tooth. 

The  next  sub-division  to  be  con- 
sidered under  the  heading  of  regu- 
lar files  is  machinists'  files.  These, 
like  the  saw  files,  are  also  divided 
into  single  and  double-cut,  but  the 
majority  are  double-cut,  just  as  sin- 
gle-cut predominates  in  the  saw 
files.  This  is  because  the  greater 
part  of  machine  shop  work  requires 
fast,  heavy  cutting,  which  is  only 
obtainable  from  a  double-cut  file. 
The  exception  is  in  the  mill  file, 
which  is  single-cut,  and  is  used  for 
lathe  work,  draw  filing,  and  finish- 
ing. 


[49] 


The  File  In  History 


The  special  single-cut  file  to  be 
mentioned  under  this  heading,  how- 
ever, is  somewhat  of  an  exception 
to  this  statement.  This  file  is  called 
the  Perfection  shear  tooth  file.  In 
form,  it  is  usually  like  the  narrow 
point  mill  file,  while  its  teeth  are 
much  coarser  and  farther  apart  than 
in  the  ordinary  file.  These  teeth 
vary  in  size  according  to  require- 
ments, and  are  known  as  coarse, 
medium,  or  fine  cut.  (Illustration 
page  46.) 

The  shear  tooth  file  is  adapted 
for  quick  work  on  metal,  such  as 
soft  steel,  iron  and  brass  castings, 
as  well  as  wood  and  marble.  It  is 
especially  valuable  to  machinists 
and  for  lathe  purposes.  In  action 
it  makes  a  shear  cut,  filing  rapidly 
and  giving  clean,  smooth  results. 

This  style  of  tooth  can  be  given 
almost  any  shape  of  file  when 
ordered. 


Taper  Hunt's 

saw  file  chrome 

three- 
square 
Fig.   46. 


Climax 
file 


Quite  a  long  list  of  files  are  found 
under  the  double-cut  heading  for 
machine  shop  use.  The  leading 
files  for  this  work  are  hand,  flat, 
half-round,  and  square  for  bench 
work,  and  the  mill  file  for  lathe 
work,  as  referred  to  before.  These 
and  the  other  files  following  are 
usually  made  in  "cuts"  bastard, 
second  cut,  and  smooth. 

Hand  files  are  not  so  named  be- 
cause they  are  made  or  used  by 
hand.  The  name  is  merely  a  tech- 
nical one,  designating  a  particular 
style  of  file.  They  are  parallel  in 
width,  and  from  about  two-thirds 
of  the  length  taper  thinner  to  the 
point,  and  are  made  with  one  edge 
"safe"  or  uncut.  These  files  are 
used  chiefly  by  machinists  and  en- 
gineers for  finishing  flat  surfaces. 

Flat  files  are  tapered  both  in 
width  and  thickness,  and  are  gen- 


[50] 


The  File  In  History 


Flat  file 


Half-round 
file 


Hand  file 


New  angle 
or  lathe 
cut  file 
Fig.  47. 


Square 
file 


Knife 
file 


[51] 


The  File  In  History 


erally  double-cut  on  both  sides  and 
single-cut  on  both  edges.  They 
are  sometimes  made  blunt  in  form 


Feather 
edge  file 


Fig.  48. 


Three- 
square  file 


(parallel  both  in  width  and  thick- 
ness), and  can  also  be  obtained  with 
one  or  two  round  edges  if  required. 
Flat  files  are  made  in  various  de- 
grees of  "cut" — rough,  middle,  bas- 
tard, second  cut,  smooth,  dead 
smooth,  double  dead  smooth. 

In  addition  to  their  being  largely 
used  in  machine  shops,  flat  files  are 
in  great  demand  by  mechanics  in 
nearly  all  lines  of  work. 

The  half-round  file,  which  di- 
vides machine  shop  honors  with  the 
hand  and  flat  file,  is,  as  its  name 
implies,  half-round  in  form  and 
tapers  to  the  point  from  about  two- 
thirds  of  its  length.  This  shape 
makes  it  a  most  useful  file  for  gen- 
eral machine  shop  work.  While 
usually  tapered,  the  half-round  file 
can  also  be  obtained  as  a  blunt  file. 

Round  files,  already  referred  to 
on  page  45,  are  also  largely  em- 
ployed in  machine  shops.  They  are 
chiefly  used  for  enlarging  holes. 
The  round  file  in  blunt  form  is 
used  on  the  heavier  class  of  work. 

There  is  another  special  cut  file, 
the  hand  bastard  for  brass,  the 
first  course  of  teeth  being  straight 
across  and  the  up-cut  more  oblique 
than  on  most  files. 

Resembling  the  hand  files  in 
shape  is  the  new  angle,  or  lathe 
cut  file.  On  this  file  the  first,  or 
"over-cut,"  is  almost  straight 
across,  instead  of  at  an  angle,  while 
the  second,  or  "up-cut,"  is  placed  at 
a  much  greater  angle  than  is  usual. 
The  result  of  this  is  to  get  a  much 
larger  cutting  surface  on  the  file 
at  one  time,  making  it  fast  cutting 
and  fine  finishing.  This  file  is  much 
in  demand  for  lathe  work. 

Square  files  are  used  by  nearly 
all  classes  of  mechanics  for  filing 
apertures  or  dressing  out  square 


[52] 


The  File  In  History 


Equaling 
file 


Pillar 
file 


Plotting 

file, 

bellied, 

rough 

Fig.    49. 


Slotting 

file, 
smooth 

cut 


Taper 

cotter 

file 


[53] 


The  File  In  History 


Arch 
file 


Warding 
file 


Planer 
knife 
file 
Fig.  50. 


Oval 

tumbler 

file 


Cross 
file 


[54] 


The  File  In  History 


Lock 
file 


Half 
round 

file 
for  solder 


Hand 
bastard 

file 

for   brass 
Fig.  51. 


Flat 

aluminum 
file 


Half 

round 

aluminum 

file 


[55] 


The  File  In  History 


corners.  While  they  are  regularly 
made  slightly  tapering  on  the 
point,  they  are  also  obtainable  in 
the  blunt  (parallel)  form. 

The  knife  files  are  forged  taper- 
ing and  are  quite  similar  in  shape  to 
the  blade  of  a  pocket  knife.  They 
are  made  in  lengths  from  four  to 
fourteen  inches,  but  can  be  made 
in  all  sizes.  They  are  usually 
double-cut  on  both  sides  and  the 
upper  edge  left  safe  or  uncut,  the 
thin  edge  single-cut.  Knife  files 
are  mainly  used  on  metal  and  for 
special  forms  for  which  the  shape 
is  particularly  adapted,  such  as  die 
work,  etc.,  having  acute  angles. 

For  purposes  somewhat  similar 
to  the  above  the  feather  edge  file 
is  used.  This  file  is  parallel  in 
length,  it's  thickest  part  is  in  the 
center,  tapering  to  a  thin  edge  at 
each  side.  It  is  used  for  truing  up 
V-shaped  grooves,  filing  special 
shaped  teeth  in  saws,  slots,  etc. 

The  Three 
Square  File 

The  three-square  file,  which  has 
been  referred  to  on  several  occa- 
sions, is  a  three-sided  file  formed 
along  the  same  lines  as  the  taper 
saw  file.  Its  form,  in  fact,  is  the 
basis  for  the  taper  saw  file. 

The  three-square  file  is  tapered, 
the  teeth  are  cut  all  the  way  to  the 
point,  and  it  is  always  double-cut 
on  all  three  sides.  The  edges  are 
uncut  and  left  very  sharp.  It  is  a 
popular  and  much  used  file  in  the 
machine  shop,  but  is  employed 
chiefly  in  cleaning  out  sharp  angles 
and  square  corners,  and  filing  cut- 
ters, taps,  etc.  While  resembling 
the  taper  saw  file  so  closely  that 
a  person  not  familiar  with  files 
might  mistake  one  for  the  other, 
they  are  entirely  useless  as  saw 


files.       The     three-square     file      is 
sometimes  made  in  the  blunt  form. 

The  equaling  file  is  used  in  ma- 
chine shop  work.  It  is  somewhat 
thinner  than  the  hand  file,  is  paral- 
lel in  length  and  thickness  and  is 
cut  on  both  sides  and  edges.  It  is 
usually  ordered  of  a  size  suitable 
for  the  work  intended — similar  to 
truing  up  slots — and  sometimes  re- 
quired with  both  edges  "safe"  or 
uncut.  While  used  for  the  same 
purpose  as  a  slotting  file,  they  are 
considerably  wider,  regularly  made 
four  to  twelve  inches  in  length, 
whereas  the  slotting  file  ranges 
from  ten  to  eighteen  inches  in 
length.  They  are  mostly  made 
with  "cuts"  bastard,  second  cut, 
and  smooth. 

The  pillar  file  is  one  much  like 
the  hand  file  in  section,  but  nar- 
rower. It  is  cut  on  both  sides  and 
one  edge,  the  other  being  safe  or 
uncut.  Reference  to  th«  sections,  or 
forms,  of  files  on  page  40  will  ex- 
plain the  difference  much  more 
clearly  than  it  could  be  written. 
While  tapered,  the  taper  is  very 
slight,  and  only  for  a  short  space 
toward  and  on  the  point.  It  is  used 
in  machine  shops  on  narrow  work 
such  as  slotting,  or  cutting  grooves 
for  cotters,  and  keys  or  wedges. 

There  are  two  other  files  made 
for  this  work.  First,  slotting  files, 
one  type  of  which  is  made  blunt  or 
parallel  in  width  and  thickness,  and 
the  other  slightly  bellied;  that  is, 
with  a  curvature  which  runs  from 
the  point  to  the  tang.  They  are 
made  from  ten  to  eighteen  inches 
long,  cut  on  both  sides  and  one 
edge,  the  other  left  safe.  Second, 
taper  cotter  files,  narrow  flat  files 
which  taper  to  points  and  are  cut 
on  the  sides  and  edges. 

The  arch  file  is  of  peculiar 
shape,  being  thickest  at  the  center, 


The  File  In  History 


tapering  thinner  to  heel  and  to 
point  (see  page  54).  It  is  widest  at 
the  center,  slightly  rounding  to  a 
narrow  point  and  heel,  and  is  cut  on 
both  sides  and  edges.  Though  some- 
times square,  the  edges  are  usually 


for  locks.  It  can  also  be  used  for 
making  a  round  hole  into  an  oval 
shape. 

The   cross   file,    sometimes   called 
the   "shadbelly,"   is  a   file  which  is 


Fig.   52— Block  or  valve  file. 


rounded.  It  is  used  on  work  in  ma- 
chine shops  where  this  curvature  is 
desirable. 

The  warding  file  is  a  very  thin 
file  from  four  to  fourteen  inches  in 
length,  and  is  used  in  slotting  work 
by  both  jewelers  and  machinists, 
but  especially  by  locksmiths  for 
putting  the  slots  or  ward  notches 
in  keys. 

Files  For 
Special  Work 

A  sort  of  connecting  link  between 
single  and  double-cut  files  is  the 
planer  knife  file.  While  it  is 
sometimes  made  double-cut  on 
both  sides,  in  its  regular  form  each 
side  is  half  single-cut  and  half 
double-cut.  This  file  is  for  sharp- 
ening planer  knife  blades  while  on 
the  machine.  This  is  a  quicker  and 
easier  job  than  taking  the  blades  out 
and  grinding  them. 

A  file  of  somewhat  peculiar  form 
is  the  oval  tumbler.  This  is  used 
principally  for  filing  the  tumblers 


sometimes  used  in  place  of  the 
half-round  file,  on  the  same  sort 
of  work.  In  this  file  both  sides  are 
rounded  out,  but  one  side,  which 
resembles  the  half-round  file,  is 
higher  than  the  other.  This  gives 
a  varying  curvature  on  the  same 
file. 

The  lock  file  is  special  in  form, 
which  will  be  understood  better  by 
referring  to  the  illustration  on  page 
55,  than  through  any  printed  de- 
scription. The  lock  file  is  used 
for  slotting  work,  mainly  in  connec- 
tion with  the  making  of  locks  and 
key  work. 

For  the  filing  of  brass  and  other 
similar  metals,  owing  to  the  soft 
nature  of  the  material,  it  is  neces- 
sary to  use  files  with  teeth  of  spe- 
cial open  or  coarse  cut.  Otherwise 
the  filings  will  be  retained  between 
the  teeth,  quickly  clogging  up  the 
file  and  causing  it  to  ride  over  the 
work  without  cutting. 

The  "hand  bastard  for  brass"  is 
specially  made  for  the  purpose.  It 


[57] 


The  File  In  History 


has  deep  teeth,  is  a  fast  cutter  and 
practically  a  self-cleaner.  The 
"over-cut"  is  on  a  longer  angle  than 
usual,  while  the  up-cut  is  almost 
straight  across.  This  special  angle 
cut  can  be  furnished  on  any  shape 
file  desired. 

A  special  open  cut  is  given  the 
"half-round  file  for  solder,"  a  file 
for  soft  metals,  and  experience  has 
demonstrated  this  to  be  the  best  for 
the  purpose. 

Coming  under  this  class  also,  and 
previously  referred  to,  is  the  Per- 
fection shear  tooth  file,  which  is 
adapted  for  quick  work  on  soft 
steel,  iron,  brass  castings,  wood, 
marble,  etc.  This  extra  wide  cut 
can  be  made  on  all  shapes  of  files. 

A  special  file  for  machine  shop  and 
foundry  use  is  the  aluminum  file, 
designed  particularly  for  filing 
aluminum  patterns.  This  comes  in 
both  the  flat  and  half-round  forms. 

This  completes  the  list  of  files 
in  general  use  for  the  heavier  work 
in  machine  shops. 


many  additional  pages.  For  in- 
stance, there  is  the  triple  valve 
file,  for  filing  sliding  valve  seats. 
This  file  is  tanged  on  one  end.  The 


Special  Shape 
Piles 

Of  course,  there  is  quite  a  variety 
of  other  shapes  of  files  used  by 
machinists  and  machinery  builders, 
to  describe  which  would  require 


[mill 


Fig.   53. — "Cut"  used  for  filing  handles. 


Flat  wood 
file 


Fig.   54. 


Cabinet 
file 


[58] 


The  File  In  History 


Fig.   55. — Kleen-spark  tool. 


Fig.  56. — Midget  magneto  file. 


3    OISSTON 


DiSSTON  22 


Fig.  57. — Manicure  files. 


Fig.  58. — Flexible  milled  shear  tooth  file. 
[59] 


The  File  In  History 


Flat  wood 
rasp 


Half  round 

wood 

rasp 


Round 

wood 

rasp 

Fig.  59. 


ouud 
cabinet^ 
;     rasp 


.    Saddle    tree 
rasp 


[60] 


The  File  In  History 


other  end  is  forged  with  a  shank, 
measuring  over  all  14J/2  inches.  It 
has  a  square  body,  and  is  made  in 
sizes  ranging  from  34/64-inch  to 
1J4  inches,  with  a  cutting  surface  7 
inches  long.  It  is  cut  on  two  sides ; 
the  other  two  are  safe  or  uncut. 
The  blank  is  machined  for  the  rea- 
son that  files  for  this  character  of 
work  must  be  absolutely  true. 

Another  style  is  the  valve  file, 
an  oblong  block  of  steel,  4  inches 
long,  ll/2  inches  thick,  with  counter- 
sunk screwholes  for  fastening  on  a 
handle  with  screws. 

Separate  and  distinct  from  metal- 
cutting  files  are  those  adapted  for 
filing  wood,  but  the  latter  do  not 
comprise  anywhere  near  the  variety 
of  sizes,  shapes,  or  "cuts"  as  the 
former.  The  teeth  in  files  for  wood 
are  widely  spaced,  but  are  not  as 
coarse  as  those  for  filing  soft  metal. 

Files  for  Woodworking. 

In  woodworking  there  are  three 
shapes  of  files  principally  used,  the 
flat,  half-round,  and  the  cabinet. 

The  flat  wood  file  is  formed 
on  practically  the  same  size  blank 
as  the  flat  file  for  metal,  but  naturally, 
owing  to  the  softer  nature  and 
fibrous  character  of  wood,  the  teeth 
for  these  files  are  larger  and  more 
widely  separated.  It  is  double-cut 
on  the  sides  and  single-cut  on  the 
edges.  This  file  is  mainly  used  for 
finishing  after  the  rasp  has  done 
the  preliminary  work. 

The  half-round  wood  file  is  the 
same  as  a  regular  half-round  file, 
except  for  a  difference  in  the  "cut." 

Excepting  that  it  is  somewhat 
wider  and  thinner,  the  cabinet  file 
is  similar  to  the  half-round,  with 
slightly  finer  teeth. 

Worthy  of  special  mention  in  the 
group  of  woodworking  files  is  the  14- 


inch    half-round     saw    handle    file, 
with  special  cut. 

This  particular  style  of  file  was 
used  by  some  of  the  older  men  when 
in  England,  where  they  learned  their 
trade.  When  these  men  came  to  this 
country,  they  brought  this  file  with 
them.  It  has  been  used  in  the  Disston 
Works  ever  since. 

The  cut  is  what  may  be  termed 
"float-cut."  It  is  widely  spaced,  has 
very  sharp  cutting  edges,  as  shown  in 
the  illustration  on  page  58,  and  the 
particular  shape  of  the  teeth  makes 
possible  an  easy,  very  rapid,  smooth 
shearing  cut. 

Referring  again  to  metal-cutting 
files,  the  comparatively  new  but  stu- 
pendous business — automobile  manu- 
facturing and  repairing — led  to  the 
making  of  a  number  of  special  files. 
First  among  these  came  the  spark 
plug  file  which  is  similar  in  shape 
to  a  manicure  file.  The  "Kleen 
Spark"  is  a  tool  which  is  a  combina- 
tion of  knife  and  file.  The  end  of 
this  file  is  chisel-shaped  for  cleaning 
gummy,  oiled  surfaces.  The  mag- 
neto file,  and  its  small  brother,  the 
midget  magneto  file,  complete  the 
group. 

These  are  used  to  clean  spark  plugs 
on  engines,  magnetoes,  ignition  coils, 
contacts,  etc.,  and  are  of  a  thickness 
allowing  them  to  be  used  as  a  gauge 
in  obtaining  the  proper  spacing  be- 
tween the  points  of  a  spark  plug. 

In  the  building  of  automobile  bod- 
ies there  is  a  special  file  used  termed 
flexible  milled  shear  tooth  file. 
This  is  fastened  on  a  wood  handle, 
the  file  itself  being  14  inches  long,  1^ 
inches  wide.  The  teeth,  10  or  12  to 
the  inch  as  required,  are  milled  in, 
making  them  strong  and  sharp. 
This  is  used  for  fast  filing  of  soft 
metal. 


[61] 


The  File  In  History 


Entirely  different  in  use  is  another 
group  of  files,  manicure  files,  which 
need  no  special  explanation.  These 
are  made  in  a  variety  of  styles  and 
sizes — the  light  flexible,  heavy  flex- 
ible, files  with  cleaner  point,  with 
diamond  point,  plain  point,  cutter 
point,  double  end  file  with  pencil 
sharpener,  etc. 

Belonging  to  this  group  is  the  corn 
rasp,  of  which  mention  is  made  fur- 
ther on. 

Along  a  somewhat  similar  line  is 
the  corrugating  file.  These  are  made 
in  several  degrees  of  cuts  and  are 
used  to  corrugate  the  blades  of  bar- 
bers' shears,  to  prevent  the  hair  from 
slipping  when  being  cut 


Rasps,  Different 
Prom  Files 

While  always  considered  under  the 
general  head  of  files,  rasps  are  really 
in  a  class  of  their  own.  The  principal 
difference,  of  course,  is  in  the  teeth, 
which  are  detached,  that  is,  not  run  in 
a  continuous  line,  and  not  formed 
like  the  teeth  on  single  and  double-cut 
files.  As  described  on  page  39,  in- 
stead of  being  cut  with  a  chisel,  rasp 
teeth  are  raised  with  a  punch.  They 
are  much  higher  than  the  ordinary 
file  teeth,  set  well  apart,  and  stag- 
gered. In  this  manner  they  are  en- 
abled not  only  to  cut  uniformly,  but 
very  quickly;  each  tooth  taking  a 
larger  "bite"  than  the  ordinary  file 
teeth. 

There  are  several  different  styles  of 
rasps,  each  used  for  different  pur- 
poses. They  are  all  so  important  in 
their  respective  lines  that  it  would 
be  hard  to  say  positively  which  vari- 
ety takes  precedence  over  another. 

Probably  the  most  widely  used  of 


all  rasps,  however,  are  those  for 
wood.  These  are  employed  by  wheel- 
wrights, carriage  builders,  plumbers, 
cabinet,  saddle-tree,  pattern  and  last 
makers,  gunstock  makers,  and  fine 
woodworkers  generally. 

Flat  wood  rasps  are  forged  simi- 
lar in  form  to  the  flat  file.  This  kind 
of  rasp  is  single-cut  on  the  edges, 
with  punched  teeth  on  the  sides. 

The  half-round  wood  rasp  is 
formed  like  a  half-round  file,  but  has 
punched  teeth  on  both  the  flat  and 
round  sides. 

The  round  wood  rasp  is  used  by 
cabinet  makers,  and  for  other  wood- 
working purposes.  It  is  round  in 
form,  with  punched  teeth  clear  out  to 
the  point.  It  is  interesting  to  com- 
pare the  illustration  shown  of  the 
modern  round  rasp  with  the  pictures 
on  page  8  of  the  ancient  Egyptian 
rasp.  In  the  case  of  this  particular 
rasp  the  changes  which  have  taken 
place  in  the  intervening  thousands  of 
years  appear  to  be  very  slight.  The 
round  rasp  is  frequently  used  for 
other  kinds  of  wood-working  in  addi- 
tion to  cabinet  work. 

Another  rasp  for  woodworking, 
and  intended  especially  for  cabinet 
work,  is  the  cabinet  rasp.  This  is 
a  half-round  rasp,  but  thinner  than 
the  regular  half-round  rasps  and  files. 
This  rasp  is  punched  on  both  the 
round  and  flat  sides,  and  has  the 
edges  single-cut. 

The  saddle-tree  rasp  is  another 
special  half-round  rasp  which  is  used 
in  the  manufacture  of  saddles.  This 
resembles  the  cabinet  rasp  just  de- 
scribed except  that  the  teeth  are 
slightly  larger  and  set  a  little  farther 
apart.  The  teeth  are  cut  in  rows 
running  obliquely  across  the  rasp. 
The  edges  are  not  cut 


[62] 


The  File  In  History 


Last 

maker's 

rasp 


Flat   shoe 
rasp 


Half  round 
shoe  rasp 

Fig.  60. 


Oval 
shoe  rasp 


• 

111 


Improved 
shoe  rasp 


[63] 


The  File  In  History 


The  great  shoe  industry,  one  of 
the  largest  in  the  world,  has  several 
rasps  made  especially  for  its  use. 

The  last  makers'  rasp  is  a  rasp 
used  in  the  making  of  the  lasts  upon 
which  shoes  are  made.  It  is  similar 
in  many  respects  to  the  cabinet  rasp 
described  above,  except  that  the 
edges  are 'very  thick  and  not  cut;  and 
the  rows  of  teeth  are  cut  on  curved 
lines.  The  flat  shoe  rasp  has 
parallel  sides  and  square  ends.  The 
sides  only  are  cut.  Beginning  at  the 
center,  the  teeth  run  in  opposite  direc- 
tions. It  is  used  for  filing  the  soles 
of  shoes. 

Another  rasp  used  for  both  the 
soles  and  heels  of  shoes  is  the  half- 
round  shoe  rasp.  This  has  punched 
.  teeth  on  half  of  one  side  and  double- 
cut  teeth  on  the  other  half.  It  is  also 
cut  on  the  ends.  This  rasp  is  most 
in  demand  in  the  United  States. 

The  oval  shoe  rasp  is  half-round 
on  one  side,  and  slightly  rounding  or 
bellied  on  the  other.  This  affords 
two  surfaces  of  different  curvature, 
making  them  especially  useful  in 
forming  the  heels  on  shoes,  for  which 
work  they  are  principally  used.  This 
is  another  rasp  that  is  cut  on  the 
ends,  but  in  this  case  the  end  is 
beveled. 

A  shoe  rasp  that  is  used  altogether 
abroad  is  the  improved  shoe  rasp. 
This  rasp  has  a  shoulder  at  the 
center,  one-half  being  thinner  than 
the  other.  The  teeth  on  each  half 
run  in  opposite  directions. 

Rasps  are  widely  used  by  horse- 
shoers,  several  patterns  being  made 
for  their  special  use. 


The     plain     horse     rasp     is     of 


parallel  form,  single-cut  on  the  edges, 
and  rasp-cut  on  each  side  with  the 
teeth  running  in  opposite  directions 
from  the  center. 

The  tanged  horse  rasp  is  of  the 
same  form,  but  has  a  tang  on  one 
end,  and  the  teeth  all  run  in  the  same 
direction — away  from  the  tang.  The 
regular  horse  rasp  is  parallel  in  shape, 
with  one  end  square  and  the  other 
slightly  rounded.  The  edges  are 
single-cut,  while  the  sides  are  rasp-cut 
on  one  half,  and  double-cut  on  the 
other.  The  teeth  are  cut  from  each 
end  to  the  center. 

The  beveled  edge  horse  rasp  has 
the  teeth  running  in  opposite  direc- 
tions from  the  center,  and  each  half 
is  beveled  on  the  opposite  sides.  The 
edges,  including  the  bevel,  are  single- 
cut. 

Blacksmiths — or  farriers — and  vet- 
erinary surgeons,  both  use  what  is 
called  a  horse-mouth  rasp  in  dental 
work  on  horses.  This  consists  of  a 
long  handle  (some  have  a  screw  joint 
in  the  center  for  compact  carrying) 
with  a  short  rasp  at  the  end.  This 
also  comes  in  a  slightly  different 
form  known  as  the  horse  tooth  file 
and  rasp.  In  this  case  there  is  an 
adjustable  holder  at  one  end  in  which 
is  secured  a  short  combination  file 
and  rasp  called  a  float.  This  float 
is  rasp-cut  on  one  side  and  double- 
cut  on  the  other.  It  is  held  in  place 
by  two  screws. 

There  is  another  rasp  which  is 
usually  classed  among  manicure  files. 
This  is  the  corn  rasp.  It  is  made 
in  various  sizes  from  2l/2  inches  to  6 
inches  in  length,  and  is  very  light  in 
weight.  It  is  a  double-end  rasp,  with 
a  curved  depression  on  each  side  at 


[64] 


The  File  In  History 


U'lSSTQiiil 
PHILA 


:%%*>>: 

t 


'« 


!A  A  4  A  A 


m. 


DISSTON 

PHILA 


Horse    rasp, 
plain 


Horse   rasp, 
tanged 


Horse    rasp, 
one-quarter  file 


Horse  rasp, 
beveled 


Fig.  61. 


[651 


The  File  In  History 


Horse    tooth    file 

and  rasp  with 

adjustable  holder 


Horse  tooth 

rasp   and 

handle 


Fig.   62. 


Corn 
rasp 


[66] 


The  File  In  History 


the  center,  where  a  grip  is  obtained 
with  the  thumb  and  forefinger. 

Riffler  Files 

The  next  in  order  are  riffler  files, 
that  is  those  rifflers  which  are  given 


the  regular  file  and  rasp  cuts.  Rif- 
flers  are  also  made  with  superfine 
"cut,"  which  will  be  taken  up  with 
other  files  under  that  class. 

Regular  rifflers  are  usually  double- 
ended  with  curved  working  surfaces 


14    DISSTON 


Fig.  63. — Regular  rifflers. 


W//////////////IIIIIIIIH''1'' 


Fig.  64. — Gin  saw  flies. 


Fig.    65. — Bent    riffler   file. 
[67] 


The  File  In  History 


Fig.  66. — Circular  and  straight  files,  for  filing 
beet  shredder  knives 


[68] 


The  File  In  History 


and  a  smooth  center  for  handhold. 
They  are  made  in  various  lengths, 
shapes,  and  cuts,  and  are  generally 
used  on  sculpture  for  stone  and  wood 
carving,  by  toolmakers  and  diesinkers 
for  dressing  indented  or  depressed 
surfaces. 

While  all  rifflers  are  bent  or 
curved,  there  is  another  group  which 
for  the  sake  of  distinction  is  termed 
bent  rifflers.  These  are  furnished 
with  wood  handles,  as  illustrated,  and 
are  principally  used  for  filing  cavities. 
They  are  usually  furnished  in  sets  of 
six  assorted  shapes,  either  file,  rasp, 
or  superfine  cut. 

In  the  ginning  of  cotton,  by  which 
process  the  seeds  are  removed,  a  gang 
or  number  of  small  circular  saws  are 
used  in  each  machine.  These  saws 
have  teeth  of  peculiar  shape  for  the 
sharpening  of  which  a  special  pat- 
tern of  circular  file  is  used.  There 
are  a  number  of  different  machines 
made  for  the  purpose,  each  requiring 
its  own  particular  shaped  file,  of 
which  we  illustrate  three  patterns. 

In  addition  to  the  above  there  are 
several  patterns  of  straight  files  used 
— one  is  knife-shaped,  others  triangu- 
lar, or  like  the  tapered  file  shown  on 
page  67.  These  are  made  of  any 
thickness  or  cut  desired. 

Another  class  of  files  is  that  used 
in  the  beet  sugar  industry  for  the 
sharpening  of  beet  slicing  knives  or 
shredders,  as  they  are  sometimes 
called,  which  have  serrated  edges. 

The  straight  files  for  this  purpose 
are  made  in  the  forms  of  square, 
hand,  and  equaling— some  with  double 


beveled  edges  and  of  special  "cut." 
They  range  from  three  to  five  inches 
long  and  are  tanged  on  one  end. 

Circular  files  cut  on  edge  are  also 
used  for  sharpening  of  these  knives 
They  are  made  of  any  size,  thickness, 
or  shape  of  edge  to  suit  the  knives 
in  use. 


Superfine 
Files 

The  next  division  in  the  listing  of 
files  comes  under  the  head  of  super- 
fine, by  which  is  designated  that 
group  having  extremely  fine  teeth. 
These  include  a  long  range  of  varie- 
ties, running  from  the  tiny  files  used 
by  watchmakers  and  jewelers — on 
many  of  which  the  teeth  are  so  fine 
that  the  files  feel  almost  perfectly 
smooth  to  the  hand — to  the  compara- 
tively large  and  heavy  files  with  the 
superfine  cut,  used  for  finishing  work 
in  machine  shops. 

They  were  originated  in  Switzer- 
land or  France,  the  records  at  hand 
pointing  more  strongly  to  the  former, 
and  were  used  especially  by  watch 
and  clock  makers  and  by  manufactur- 
ers of  machinery  and  dies  for  this 
delicate  class  of  work. 

On  page  70  are  shown  illustrations 
of  the  various  superfine  cuts.  These 
begin  with  what  is  termed  the  No.  00 
cut  and  run  down  in  fineness  to  that 
known  as  No.  8. 

The  majority  of  the  larger  super- 
fine files  are  shaped  in  a  manner  simi- 
lar to  the  regular  files  which  have 


[69] 


The  File  In  History 


The  different  cuts  of  superfine  files 


No.  00 


No.  0 


No.  1 


No.  2 


No.  3 


No.  4 


No.  5 


No.  6 


No.  7 


Fig.   68. 
[70] 


No.  8 


The  File  In  History 


Flat 
file 


Crochet 
file 


Barrette 

file 
Fig.  69. 


Slitting 
file 


Drill  or 
joint  file 


[71] 


The  File  In  History 


Shapes  of  needle  flies 


Round 


Half  round 


Flat 


Oval 


Knife 


Square 


Three  square 


Equaling 


Barrette 


Joint 


Slitting 


Marking 
Fig.  70. 


[72] 


The  File  In  History 


Escapement  files 


Marking    Slitting    Joint  BarrettelEqualing  ^  ^Square  Knife     J^j       Oval        Flat      Round 

Pig.   71. 


[73] 


The  File  In  History 


been  described  throughout  this  article. 
This  makes  it  unnecessary  to  illus- 
trate more  than  a  few  which  show 
slight  variations  from  these  standard 
forms.  The  principal  difference  lies 
in  the  "cut"  or  teeth,  which  can  be 
seen  readily  by  comparing  the  illustra- 
tion of  superfine  cuts  shown  here 
with  the  standard  cuts  of  regular  files 
shown  on  pages  37  and  38. 

The  flat  file,  it  will  be  noticed, 
differs  from  the  shape  of  regular  files 
•  by  tapering  to  a  point,  which  also 
applies  to  the  round,  half-round, 
square,  etc.  Other  forms,  such  as 
hand,  pillar,  etc.,  follow  the  regular 
shapes. 

A  file  of  peculiar  shape  is  the  cro- 
chet file.  This  has  both  -edges 
rounded  and  cut,  and  tapers  to  a 
point. 

The  barrette  file  is  somewhat  simi- 
lar to  the  three-square  file,  but  is 
more  flattened  in  form  and  is  gener- 
ally cut  on  the  wide  side,  left  safe  or 
uncut  on  the  two  narrow  sides.  This 
file  as  well  as  the  one  above  is  em- 
ployed for  filing  on  any  fine  or  close- 
fitting  work,  like  die-making. 

The  slitting  file  is  diamond 
shaped;  that  is,  wide  at  the  center  and 
tapering  to  a  thin  edge  on  both 
edges. 

The  drill,  or  joint  file,  is  parallel 
in  width  and  is  furnished  with  either 
round  or  square  edges,  as  preferred. 
As  the  name  indicates,  it  is  used  for 
filing  drills. 

These  constitute  the  large  super- 
fine files  and  range  from  two  to 
twelve  inches  in  length. 


Needle  Files 

Needle  files  are  small,  slender  files 
from  four  to  six  and  a  quarter  inches 
in  length  (measured  over  all),  and 
are  made  in  all  the  different  forms. 
Only  half  the  length  is  cut,  however, 
the  balance  of  the  file  being. formed 
into  a  long,  round  tang  or  handle. 
These  little  files  are  used  for  jew- 
elers' work  principally. 

Closely  following  the  needle  files 
in  form  and  in  shape  of  ends  is  the 
group  of  escapement  files.  These  are 
usually  five  and  one-half  inches  long 
measured  over  all,  and  are  made  with 
a  square  handle.  They  derive  their 
name  because  they  are  used  chiefly 
for  filing  the  escapements  for 
watches  and  clocks. 

A  few  additional  files  which  are 
used  by  clock-makers  are  the  screw- 
head  file,  made  with  or  without 
tang,  two  to  four  inches  long;  the 
balance  file,  ratchet,  right  hand,  and 
the  double-end  pivot  files,  the  latter 
being  made  right  or  left  "cut"  and 
with  either  sharp  or  conical  corners. 
The  forms  of  these  files  will  be  seen 
in  the  ilustrations,  which  are  actual 
size. 

Another  group  of  straight  files  is 
the  die  sinkers'.  These  are  similar 
in  form  to  the  larger  superfine  files; 
but  are  usually  made  in  two  sizes, 
three,  and  three  and  a  half-inches  in 
length,  formed  with  a  tang  for 
handle.  They  are  furnished  in  sets 
comprising  the  same  shapes  as  needle 
and  escapement  files,  and  in  "cuts" 
Nos.  0,  1,  and  2.  The  name  implies 
their  use. 

A  special  file  that  has  attained  a 
more  or  less  standard  form  is  the 


[74] 


The  File  In  History 


1! 

Screwhead 


Right   hand 
pivot 


Balance 


Ratchet 


Fig.  72. 
f75] 


Douuie-eiid 
pivot 


The  File  In  History 


Special  rifflers 


Fig.  73. 


[76] 


The  File  In  History 


riffler,  used  by  sculptors,  silversmiths, 
die  sinkers,  etc.  This  form  consists 
of  a  long,  straight  center  for  hand 
hold,  while  the  ends  for  a  short  dis- 
tance are  file  cut.  The  chief  variation 
in  these  matters  lies  in  the  shape  of 
the  end  and  size. 

These  are  made  in  three  sizes, 
large,  medium,  and  small.  The  me- 
dium size  is  illustrated  in  reduced 
length — the  regular  length  for  each 
being  six  and  one-half  inches.  They 
differ  only  in  the  thickness  of  the 
stock. 

The  individual  types  are  too  nu- 
merous to  reproduce  here,  but  a  very 
good  idea  of  the  sizes  and  general 
forms  may  be  had  by  comparison  of 
the  regular  riffiers  shown  on  page 
67,  which  are  eight  inches  long,  with 
the  special  rifHers,  which  are  slender 
in  stock  and  about  six  and  one-quar- 
ter inches  in  length.  The  illustration 
being  about  three  inches  less  than 
actual  size. 

Slightly  longer  than  the  above,  but 
considerably  heavier  in  stock,  with 
more  cutting  surface,  are  the  French 
rifflers,  the  set  composed  mostly  of 
rasp-cut  from  fine  to  coarse. 

Coming  next  in  size  and  in  greater 
variety  of  shapes  are  the  die  sinkers' 
rifflers,  which  are  seven  inches  long 
and  somewhat  heavier  in  stock. 

Then  follow  the  silversmiths' 
rifflers.  These  are  seven  and  a  half 
inches  long  and  narrower  on  the  cut- 
ting ends. 

There  is  also  a  form  of  riffler  that 
has  but  one  end  curved,  shaped  and 
cut,  the  other  end  -being  formed  into 
a  tang  to  fit  in  a  wood  handle.  This 


is  the  style  previously  referred  to  as 
the  bent  riffler. 

The  bench  filing  machine  files 
differ  from  the  files  just  described  in 
that  they  are  especially  adapted  for 
use  in  power-driven  machines. 

They  are  made  in  a  variety  of 
shapes  as  shown  on  page  78;  and 
with  cuts  Nos.  00,  0,  1,  and  2. 

Similar  as  to  shapes,  but  longer 
and  wider,  are  the  parallel  machine 
files,  which  are  formed  with  a  tang. 
These  are  made  in  all  "cuts." 

During  the  late  war  the  House  of 
Disston  manufactured  for  use  on 
glass  tubes  in  laboratories  over  fifty 
thousand  glass  files.  These  files  are 
now  a  regular  product.  One  style  is 
flat,  2  inches  long,  cut  only  on  one 
edge.  Another  style  is  3  inches 
long,  3  square  with  teeth  cut  on  the 
edges  only. 

Another  group  of  files  is  the  kit 
for  filing  shoe  machinery.  This  kit 
consists  of  twelve  blunt  files,  3^2 
inches  long.  These  files  are :  1  equal- 
ling file  with  two  safe  edges,  1  equal- 
ling file  with  one  safe  edge,  1  equal- 
ling with  both  edges  cut,  a  large  and 
a  small  square  file,  a  large  and  a 
small  slitting  file,  one  scoring  file,  one 
screw-head  file,  one  joint  file,  one 
ratchet  file,  and  one  square  edge 
joint  file. 

To  name  the  industries  in  which 
files  are  used  would  be  almost  like 
compiling  a  trade  directory  of  the 
world,  for  there  are  few  that  do  not 
need  some  form  of  file.  This  gives 
rise,  of  course,  to  a  number  of  special 
shapes  that  are  invented  and  manu- 
factured to  meet  the  peculiar  needs  of 
some  particular  line  of  manufacture. 


[77] 


The  File  In  History 


Fig.  74. — Bench  filing  machine  flies. 


Barrette 


Three 
square 


Auriform 


Oval 


Half 
round 


Round 


O     H 


Pippin 


Knife 


Crochet 


Pillar 


Lozenge         Square 


It  would  be  impossible  to  show  all 
of  the  various  forms  of  special  files, 
and  needless,  too,  because  many  are 
turned  out  to  meet  certain  conditions, 
or  as  experiments. 

This  brings  to  a  close  the  story  of 
the  file  from  the  time  when  history 
first  recognized  its  existence,  down  to 
modern  times  when  its  use  has  be- 
come indispensable  to  almost  every 
form  of  manufacturing  business.  Al- 


though many  foreign  countries  still 
manufacture  files,  America  long  ago 
took  the  lead  in  production. 

In  addition  to  using  annually  over 
35,000  dozen  files  of  their  own  manu- 
facture in  their  saw  works,  handle 
factory  and  machine  shops,  The 
House  of  Disston  sends  enormous 
quantities  of  their  files,  not  only  all 
over  this  country  and  Canada,  but 
to  almost  every  country  in  the 
world. 


[78] 


THE  BINGHAM  COMPANY 
PHILADELPHIA.  PA. 


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